It Is Never Who We Expect
by whitetiger62512
Summary: Cassandra is angry with the world, the divine dead the the conclave destroyed and she will have answers. But will they be the answers to the questions she asks or the one that has haunted her since her Soul mark appeared written in a tongue she does not speak.
1. Chapter 1

Never who we expect

Cassandra was dressing quickly after her short towel bath before starting another day of fighting demons falling from a hole in the sky with the conclave destroyed and the divine dead, the only hope was a qunari female who was still in some kind of coma.

"Lady Cassandra! The prisoner she's awake!" A breathless scout said as she came close and Cassandra whipped around barking out. "Thank you now go tell Sister Nightingale at once and have her meet me at the chantry."

The scout leapt to obey while Cassandra hurried to finish dressing and making sure her soul mark was covered, the mark had been a point of hardship for her as most soul marks were more mundane or kind words from the person that would be their soul mate but hers filled her with dread every time she saw it. She all but stormed to the chantry determined to finally have answers for the questions that burned in her mind. Leliana met her at the doors to the basement where the prisoner was being held.

"Remember that we need her alive until we have answers and a way to seal the breach." Leliana reminded her she just grunted they needed her alive not in one peace and these savages had proven they only respected force.

Adaar sat in the center of the room surrounded by guards while chained to the floor, she would have laughed as if these pathetic BAS could stop her if she wanted to leave. Did they not realize they held a Saarebas, they must not or they would have bound her magic hands and tongue? The door on the far side of the room burst open and an angry woman charged in like a dragon.

"Tell me why we should not kill you right NOW!" She yelled grabbing Adaar by the collar of her Saarebas outfit. {Fuck you chantry BAS!} Adaar snapped loudly in Qunlat and the woman reacted as if she had been slapped. At the Moment Adaar recalled just what the woman said and paled as those exact words were wrapped around her neck like a collar but they were cover by her heavy chain collar.

Leliana also reacted with shock as she was one of very few that knew that Cassandra's soul mark was written in Qunlat and that qunari had just said the words of the mark that was hidden on the seeker's collar bone.

'Well this makes things a lot more complicated.' Leliana thought before Cassandra spoke. "It can't be!" but even to Leliana's ears it sound weak.

"Like I wanted this I just hoped that it was a tal-vashoth not some BAS." The qunari growled at the seeker. "Now what in the name of the qun is going on BAS?" the qunari barked at them.

"It will be easier to show you." The seeker said quietly still most likely in shock. "Leliana head to the forward camp I will take the prisoner and meet you there." Leliana nodded before moving away. 'Well hopefully she will not kill the Qunari before they learn the truth.' The bard thought as she moved away.


	2. Chapter 2 Horns of change

Ch.2 horns of change

Cassandra

Cassandra guided the prisoner who turned out to be her soulmate through the village, she stole another glance at the strange Qunari woman who stood tall and proud as if challenging the world. The woman had dark silver skin that bore no blemish at all, her white as snow hair was bound in a simple braid that started at her crown and reached the base of neck. Her horns swept back in a gentle sidewise S reaching skyward at the tips with a second small and shorter horn just under the main ones following the same path, the most striking thing in Cassandra's mind was her bright yellow eyes. After cutting the ropes binding her wrists as they passed through the gates to head into the valley Cassandra stopped them and turned to her.

"Do you have a name?" The large woman turned to look down at her as the qunari stood at six five.

{Yes.} She said in Qunlat, Cassandra was lucky that she understood as Cassandra only had a basic grasp of the language, having learned it to understand the words on her collar bone.

{What is it?} She responded in the same tongue and the woman looked mildly surprised.

{I am call Asaaranda Adaar.} She said in a deep smooth voice before turning and walking down the path. Cassandra knew that her first name meant thunderstorm and she could not help but wonder if it fit her.

As they crossed the bridge a bolt from the breach struck the bridge shattering it and hurling them to the frozen river below. She saw a demon start to form in front of them so she drew her weapon and shield before calling to her soulmate.

"Demon stay behind me!" She moved to fight the demon and failed to notice the second demon forming behind her.

She focused on the demon in front of her until she hear a loud crash of thunder come from behind her and she spared a glance and saw Asaaranda rising from the charred remains of a shade. Cassandra barely had time to see this before adaar turned into a bolt of purple lighting crashing with the same thunderous noise as before into the demon she had been fighting, the demon fell under the force of being hit by the qunari mage.

Cassandra was shocked she had never seen magic used like that in such a primal fashion, she raise her sword and shield at the woman. Soulmate or not she could still be the one who killed the most holy.

"Stay back!" She ordered when the woman turned, Asaaranda just laughed at her.

{Foolish bas, why would I hurt my soulmate. I may not like being paired with you but fate does not care, so you are safe from me.}

"Did you kill the divine?" She asked not yet lowering her weapons, Asaar shook her horned head.

{I may not know what happened to cause all this but she was my employer so she and hers were safe from be unless I was attack by them and then it would be until I was safe again that I fought.} She explained as if it was obvious.

"Very well I believe you." Cassandra said not sure why she believe this woman but she had only been honest with them so far and even protected her without being asked so what if she was rude given all that was happening Cassandra understood not liked but understood.

Asaaranda picked up a simple sword and dagger before working their sheathes on to her right hip through the ropes of her Saarebas armor, the armor was complete when they found her expect for the chains besides the ones that held the breast plate shut were missing, even a plain red mask had covered her face along with red paint covering her body in the pattern of the qun. Cassandra watched how well she moved with the weapons on her hip as if they were a part of her and that alone told Cassandra that this woman knew her weapons and knew them well. They moved on to head for the forward camp in silence.

Asaaranda

Asaaranda moved up the hill when she hear the seeker bas call out. "We are getting closer, you can hear the fighting."

{Who is fighting?} She called back.

She bared this woman no ill will she was her soulmate which she could only hope that meant when this was over she would not be killed out of hand.

"You'll see." Was all the seeker said and adaar growled she hated responses like that reminding her too much of her days in chains under the qun.

They reached the top and what they saw made Asaaranda pause to plan instead of rushing as most would. It was like a grand melee at the Bas events but she saw at least a single mage and a dwarf, that's crossbow looked very familiar, planning her moves she drew her weapons then wrapped lighting around her along with the weapons before leaping at the demon about to hit the dwarf form behind.

VARRIC

Ass deep in demons again, he thought Kirkwall had been the last place he would ever be ass deep in demons. He was reloading Bianca when a thunderous crash and a bright flash of light stirred old memories of that night so long ago when the qunari attacked his home. Turning he caught a glimpse of a ghost from his past as the lighting wrapped woman bolted away to crush another demon, 'it can't be!' he thought he was crazy but any doubt he had was erased when the fallen soldiers around him rose again to take up arms again while wreathed in black smoky power.

'Well shit! It is a small world after all, Hawke is never going to believe this!' he thought as he fired into a demon that had been about to flank Asaaranda. The demon faltered for a moment which was all the qunari needed to turn and lop the demons head clean off with the sword in her left hand.

Cassandra

The fighting was easier than it would have been had adaar not been flying around the battle field like a demon wrapped in lighting and wherever she landed any fall bodies started rising for a few moment before falling again after claiming another demon.

"Quickly! Before more come through!" The apostate who called himself Solas yelled before grabbing asaaranda's wrist and thrusting it into the rift. Light writhed up and down the woman's arm as she screamed in rage and pain as she was forced to her knees in pain and that made Cassandra wince in sympathy for the woman as she screamed before the rift sealed with a loud cracking pop.

When Solas approached the woman having stepped back after trapping her there with the mark Asaaranda stood up.

"It seems I was right Agha-" Solas was cut off as Asaaranda wrapped her hands around his throat lifting him into the air clearly trying to choke him to death as he flailed wildly face growing redder.

Cassandra was tempted to let her kill him for not even checking if she was alright before starting to talk about something else, but Cassandra knew that they needed him alive for now.

{Katoh Asaaranda we need him alive for now!} She cried in Qunlat hoping that would stop the woman, the woman looked at her seeming to be searching for something that she must have found as she dropped the elf before stalking to her side.

{I will work with you but know this I am not you slave. I chose my own path.}

{Understood.} The woman nodded before moving to her side to stand at a version of military at ease.

"Shit sparks your still as scary as always!" Varric called and Cassandra whirled to glare at the annoying little dwarf.

"And just how do you know the prisoner?" she growled because if the dwarf was involved with this she would enjoy stringing him up for all the times he annoyed her on the way here.

"Relax seeker no need to get staby, I met sparks in Kirkwall when the qunari attacked we freed her and she fought beside us and traveled with Hawke awhile!" Varric explained and Asaaranda just nodded along with Varric's story.

"Very well dwarf now we must get to the forward camp." She growled and after arguing with the dwarf on if he was going with them they left for the camp.


	3. Chapter 3 to the breach and beyond

Ch.3 To the breach and beyond.

LELIANA

Arguing with the chancellor was giving her a headache, the man refused to see reason one would think that taking the person with the only thing that might be able to close the giant hole in the sky would be what you do with her not wanting to chain her and send her very far from it. She glanced up and saw Cassandra coming up with the prisoner along with Solas and Varric, she noticed that the qunari now carried weapons. 'Clearly Cassandra trust her enough, I just hope it is not because of the soulmarks.' Leliana thought as she spoke to the chancellor who then snapped.

"I know who she is! Seeker I order you to chain the prisoner and prepare her for travel to the capital!" Cassandra started to respond when Leliana saw a silver hand snap out and seize the priest by the throat, hauling him into the air and over the table before lowering him to make him face to face with her and despite choking into the red colour he still managed to turn pale at meeting her glinting yellow eyes.

{Listen well Bas! My soulmate is a seeker so you have no authority over her and you try anything to harm me or her I will beat you to death with you own limbs!} She snarled and Leliana along with Cassandra and Varric all looked a bit shocked at the threat and open declaration of being Cassandra's soulmate.

'Clearly this qunari believes that you must protect your soulmate.' Leliana thought while Cassandra had a small smile on her face watching the horned woman while Varric laughed as Solas looked on in confusion.

Leliana spoke up as it was clear that neither male spoke the language. "Chancellor she just reminded you that as a seeker Cassandra is not bound to obey you. She then said that if you threaten her or Cassandra she would beat you to death with your own limbs." She said with a slight smirk while the old man paled and Solas looked at the mage with disapproval.

"As she said." Came the thickly accented voice from the qunari woman. The woman dropped the man and stepped over him as if he was trash before moving to the table to examine the map. "Take the mountain path, if something killed the scouts too dangerous to be left there."

The woman spoke clearly not comfortable speaking common. Leliana nodded in approval and Cassandra had started to look disapproving but changed when the reason was given.

As she moved to gather her scouts she heard the chancellor say rudely. "On your head be the faults seeker when your brute fails, bitch." He whispered the last word but he underestimated the hearing of the qunari it seemed as the woman stalked over and kicked the downed man in the head hard dropping him like a sack of rocks.

Leliana smiled behind her hood as she ordered the scouts thinking that she like this woman's way of dealing with the man. 'Maker guide them and protect them.' She prayed as she laid he scouts down to meet with the soldiers.

CASSANDRA

Cassandra listened to Varric try and draw Asaaranda out into a conversation, and smirked she enjoyed watching him fail as he was getting very short answers in Qunlat.

"So sparks, what have you been up to these last few years, your letters don't say much?"

{Merc work.} Came the bored response.

"Really where and with who."

{Free marches, Val-kos.}

"I give up you talk as much as you used to." Varric said throwing his hands in the air, Asaaranda just smirked. {Yep.} Solas looked unhappy at being the only one unable to understand his fellow mage.

Cassandra spotted the demons first she cried out to alert the others, the others readied their weapons and the cave became lit by the writhing lighting now covering her soulmate. Cassandra charge the greater shade unleashing a war cry to pull its attention to her, out of the corner of her eye she saw a purple blur as the qunari flew past to slam into another shade with the shock wave knocking the wraiths surrounding the shade away. Cassandra was impressed by the battlefield control the woman showed as every time she charged and landed it caused the most damage and chaos among the enemies as possible. She also proved to be very skilled with her sword and dagger, using the dagger as a parrying tool while striking with the sword. The fight was short and when the mage sheathed her weapons Solas walked up to her and started talking as they walked.

"I have not seen you style of magic before is it qunari based?" he asked and Asaaranda just looked at him flat like she was deciding on whether or not to snap him in half.

{Not for Bas to know.} Was all she said before turning and walking back to Cassandra and walking on her right side as Varric laughed.

"What did she say?" Solas asked and as the annoying dwarf was still laughing at the look on Solas's face she answered instead. "She said it was not for things to know."

"Things?"

"Outsiders of the Qun are things not people they need to join in order to become people." Varric explained having recovered.

Any more talk was broken up when they found the scouts. The fight that followed was short but ended with adaar on her knees trying not to scream as she used the mark to close the rift. "You are becoming quite good at that." Solas remarked and Asaaranda just glared at the mage before grabbing him by the throat and hurling him into a snow bank before stalking over to Cassandra's right flank again.

"Chuckles I don't think sparks likes you or talking about the rifts or breach and her mark!" Varric called to the mage as Solas dug himself out glaring at the other mage who just smirked at him.

ASAARANDA

When the pride demon appeared Asaaranda cursed in Qunlat as the damned thing would be immune to her normal coating, calling on thoughts of rage and fire she felt the blue flames lick over her skin and weapons warming her muscles. She may not be able to move so fast that everything slowed like when she was coated in her lighting but the fire gave her strength and vigor beyond her normal power. Before she had become a Saarebas she was training to be a Ben-Hassrath who was a researcher of Bas magic and had read about the Bas tempests who coated themselves in the elements so when she got magic she worked out how to copy this example of Bas alchemy with magic and once freed she used their style of fighting as her own. She ran past her soulmate as the qun taught only one thing in regards to soulmates she listened to always treat them as an equal but protect them if you can without halting their purpose.

She leapt at the demon Dagger driving deep into the hide allowing her to begin scaling the demon like a mountain. When she reached the top still on fire she started slashing at the neck until the demon tried grabbing her and only got burnt for its trouble, the seeker stood below her striking the demon with a large amount of crippling blows that between them fell the demon. Asaaranda reached up to the rift to seal it and searing pain like her arm was on fire tore through her and she could barely stay standing until she felt something snapped. A deafening boom sounded as she was hurled into the wall behind her and she blacked out before she even hit the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch.4 Cass learns about the thunderstorm

Cassandra walked into the war council meeting tired and unhappy, this was the first true war council meeting as Leliana's friend had just arrived the night before shortly after the soldiers had carried Asaaranda down the mountain. She had not sleep well as part of the soulmarks magic allowed for the sharing of dreams when one of the pair was a strong enough mage, so her night had been full of a fitful sleep of a nightmare she could not remember. That annoyed her greatly as she was sure it was something to do with the divine's death, she entered the room and saw she was the last to arrive.

"Good you're here, I was waiting for you to arrive before starting as I think we should start with talking about the one they are now starting to call the herald." Leliana said and Cassandra nodded before moving to a side table and pouring herself some tea.

"Very well then let us start with what we know." Cassandra said as she returned to the table, and Cullen stood straight as he raise a question he thought needed to be asked so they could find out the most info.

"Do we know who her soulmate is and if so where that person is, so we can question the person?" He asked Leliana who smirked as she nodded.

"That we do, our dear seeker is the soul mate I checked the mark when they changed her out of that bloodstained armor of hers."

"WHAT?" Cullen cried before rounding on the seeker who was glaring at the bard who just smirked. "How long have you been bonded, do you know what she did in regards to causing the breech?"

Cassandra looked up and glared at the tone the Commander had taken as if by being her soulmate it made Cassandra a criminal as well. "We became bonded when I went to question her and according to her, she would not have brought harm to the divine unless directly attack otherwise she would have protected most holy with her life." Cassandra said in a tone that made Cullen back down.

Josephine broke in to prevent further fighting, she turned to Leliana who would know the most as the spy master who had hired the Qunari for the divine. "Leliana what do we know of her past?" she asked in a polite voice.

Leliana looked around the table making sure she had their attention before beginning a tale that made her blood boil in rage for the poor woman. "What we know is vague and mostly second hand as she barely speaks common but understands it just fine according to her boss." She began. "The woman's name is Asaaranda Adaar, she grew up in the qun starting as a spy who studied magic for the qun until she developed magic and became one on their chained mages under a cruel and sexually abusive master."

Josephine made a noise of distress while Cassandra's expression darkened. "After the Qunari landed in Kirkwall she was freed by hawk when the Qunari attack and she spent a year and half with the woman before vanishing for some time. She showed up again about a year and half ago Joining the Val-kos Mercs and serving as battle mage fighting in the front lines. Beyond that we know next to nothing about her." Leliana finished.

Cassandra walked out of the meeting feeling worse than before now knowing what her soulmate had went through, she had thought by the lack of scars she had been born outside the qun and just been captured soon after the Qunari landed in Kirkwall. Know that she knew she could not help but wonder if she had used magic to remove the scars as a way of freeing herself, she found herself outside the cabin that Asaaranda had been given while she healed from trying to close the breach. The guards stepped aside to let her in, she walked in and move a seat over to beside the bed and sat down looking at the sleeping woman. She reached out and gently stroked the horns on the woman's head surprised at how smoothly they had been polished clearly they were a point of pride for the woman, the woman's face had relaxed when Cassandra started touching her possibly sensing her soulmate nearby. So she sat stroking the horns for some time thinking deeply about the days to come.

Cassandra was tired from a long day meetings and a hard morning workout to wake her up and it felt like too much work to return to the hard mat in her tent so she stripped down to her under clothes before crawling in beside the horned woman. The woman stirred slightly, just enough to Pull Cassandra on to the woman's chest hugging her like a stuffed animal before settling into a deeper more peaceful sleep. Cassandra drifted off in the warmth of the woman's embrace enjoying the smell of wood smoke and leather oil, thinking she could come to enjoy sleeping like this as she hate the cold of heaven at night.


	5. Chapter 5 the thunderstorm wakes

the thunder storm wakes/ Cullen gets owned

Asaaranda woke up in a strange bed in a strange cabin with the scent of the seeker all over her and the sheets, there was no scent of sex so she knew that the seeker had only been at most sleeping in her bed with her which might explain when why towards the end he dreams gentled. She started to rise when a loud crash alerted her to the presence of the scared little elf, after the elf gave her message and ran out like a frightened rabbit they were so cruelly called Asaaranda got dressed and found that her Saarebas clothes were replaced with a garment she had never thought to see again.

The garment was of her own make and used qunari style leather to make a pair of loose red pants, the chest was done in the style of most females in the qun with a pair of straps looping around her neck to cup her breast, her chest was then painted with black and gold vitaar in crisscross pattern on her chest. The pants tucked into thick black leather boots with a gold bordered red stripe running from toe tip to the top of the knee high boots with a gold edged black leather strap running over the arch of her foot. Next came the gold banded leather gorget then came the sleeveless coat made of banded black and red strips in alternating pattern with a red sash around the waist to hold her weapons, which were also there a matching qunari slasher sword and dagger in simple but well-made sheaths of black leather slide on to her right hip. Next came her shoulder pads done in the same style as her coat with a bright white painted on both them and the back of her coat, her elbow and arm guards were done in the same fashion with the white eye on the backs of her hand plates.

Once dressed she then moved to leave but stopped when she heard movement outside her door, listening closely she heard what sounded like a crowd trying to be quiet. She backed away from the door she hated dealing with people as they often said she was cold or harsh and it was too early to deal with that, her mind made up she moved to the window at the back of the cabin and slipped out unseen. Moving with the grace that one would not expect of someone her size she slipped past the crowd due to her magic weaving a glamor around her to make others eye slide off her form forgetting she was there. She moved into the chantry and headed for the room in the back, she heard yelling and what she heard had her through the door wreathed in lightening.

"Seeker she is a criminal she caused the breach."

"I do not believe that the most holy called out for her."

"You are her soul mate we should take you both to the capital to face trail and for you to be removed from the chantry's order!" the councillor yelled before the door slammed open.

* * *

Cassandra was tempted to hit the man for daring to accuse her of a having a part in the divine's death, before she could give in to the impulse the three in the room were suddenly joined by a sparking Adaar who now held the old man by the throat holding him aloft as if he weighed nothing. Cassandra and Leliana was so shocked they almost missed what Asaaranda was growling out.

{Threaten my soulmate again and I will kill you in the slowest and most painful way I know!} Though Rodrick did not speak the language he paled from the tone and look on the woman's face that was painted to look like a dragon.

"She said that if you threatened her soulmate again she wold kill you in the slowest and most painful way she knew." Leliana translated as Cassandra was trying to hide her blush at the protective tone in Adaar's voice.

After a bit more arguing and Asaaranda speaking a line from the chant Rodrick left after they declared the chantry reborn.

{Help us all this is pointless without your help.} Cassandra asked her soulmate, who looked at both of the other women carefully before nodding.

{Very well kadan, I will join you not for your cause but for you are my soulmate I am bound to help you purpose as I lack one I will make your cause mine.} She vowed as she already found herself growing fond of this smaller woman who had the spirit of an Ataashi. Cassandra smiled and Leliana moved to begin the prep to make it official while Adaar left to explore the camps.

After a time she was found by a scout on top of a large rock practicing her forms away from others, when the scout arrive she jump from the rock and received the message and gave the young female scout the notes she found in a nearby cabin telling her to deliver them to the one who made potions. The scout ran off as she made her way to the chantry to meet with this war council. Entering the room her mood darkened and her face contorted in to a snarl as she leapt across the table to attack the monster in a fur collar. There were a number of cries but she ignored them as she would kill this threat to her and her mate before anything else, she drew her dagger to kill the bastard but found herself tackled by her soulmate.

Cassandra was trying not to look like an eager puppy waiting for Asaaranda as this was the worst part about soulmates until their aura became use to each other they would act like love sick puppies, she saw Adaar enter and felt a surge of glee that quickly became horror as she saw her mate's face become a snarling mask a beat before she launched herself over the table and at Cullen?

{Katoh!} She cried but Adaar ignored them all in favour of drawing a razor sharp dagger and Cassandra saw she was about to kill Cullen.

Without thinking Cassandra flung herself at Asaaranda knocking her off Cullen, Adaar looked at her in shock.

{Why did you stop me? I was about to kill that fucker!} She snarled but without malice directed at Cassandra in her voice.

{Cullen is part of the council, whatever happened in Kirkwall is over he is changed and trying to make up for his past!} She cried wanting Adaar to understand, Asaaranda glared at Cullen for a few moments before turning back to Cassandra who was straddling her lap and raised a hand to gently cup her face. She leaned in and Kissed Cassandra deeply in part to help their aura's mesh and more to help calm her mind and sooth her kadan's worries, pulling back with both hands cupping her kadan's face she looked into the seeker's eyes.

{Very well kadan I will stay my blade for you I will not be happy to work with him but I will for your sake alone but beyond that do not ask me to forgive what he has done please?} She begged and Cassandra nodded.

Cassandra turned red when Leliana cough gently as she remembered where they were, she quickly stood and helped her mate up and moved with her to the other side of the table.

"Cullen she will work with us but she will not apologize or forgive whatever you did at Kirkwall." Leliana explained as Cassandra was distracted trying to escape Adaar who had wrapped herself around the seeker resting her chin atop the scarred woman's head.

"I understand I do not deserve forgiveness anyway and I understand her trying to kill me we did not part on the best term." He said at which point adaar scoffed saying. "He means he tried to kill me." The meeting moved on and they broke up, Josie asked to speak alone with Asaaranda so they moved into her office and the researcher left when they arrived.

Sitting and gesturing for adaar to do the same she began. "I need to know more about you to know how best to present you." Adaar nodded before saying.

"Pen and paper will go faster, I write better than talk." Asaaranda explained in halting common, Josephine smiled before handing over the items.

"I need to know your thoughts on the qun." Adaar nodded before writing it down and handing it back.

'It was ok before my magic but horrible after it is a bad thing for mages and those with no skill, I do not like it.'

"Very well your mercenary work was not as inflammatory as feared, I need to know what your role was."

'I led a small squad of sabotage experts, using our magic and skill to disrupt the enemies.'

"Ah that will be fairly easy to spin in our favour, do you have any questions about me."

'Have you met you soulmate?'

"No sadly and my mark like the seeker's is written in tongue that I do not understand and have not trust anyone to translate it."

'Would you like me to, I read many tongues?' Josephine was surprised at the offer but realised that this was an olive branch and accepted it, standing she loosened the back of her dress to allow her right sleeve to slide down to reveal bright green spiraling writing. Josie knew it was eleven but beyond that she could not figure it out as she spoke very little of the tongue, she had not expected Adaar's response as she started laughing.

"What is so funny?" she said cheeks tinging slightly, adaar wrote out in her very beautiful writing.

'I know that writing style it belongs to a member of my squad, it says 'You speak eleven?' "

Josie was shocked at the writing but before she could responded a scout ran in just as she fished putting her dress in place again. "Herald the seeker wants you in the cells they found an elven spy!" Adaar quickly followed the scout leaving a stunned Josie who now knew her soulmate could be found soon.

* * *

hey guys.

Comments and feedback are welcomed and encouraged, please feel free to suggest ways for the story to go.

any one shot ideas for this story or other oneshots are highly encouraged.

next chapter the Soulmate of Josie appears!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: enter Josie's soulmate and new headache

Chapter Text

Ch.6 Enter Josie soulmate and new headache.

Simra found herself wondering how she ended up chained to a floor with an armored woman yelling at her, she had just been trying to get off the mountain as the shems often blamed the first elf they saw for a problem especially one wearing dalish marking and she also needed to meet up with Adaar and the others at the base.

'If I make it through this Adaar is going to yell at me again and take away my desserts!' she thought gloomily as the Shem continued to yell at her, not that she could respond if she wanted to as it was unlikely that the woman spoke either elven or Qunlat. She could understand common but her accent was so thick and her ability to speak it so low she gave up trying a long time ago.

The door slammed open and to her great shock Adaar in her favorite war gear along with some other Shem woman walked in and her highly trained senses told her that she could and would kill her if sim displeased her.

{Adaar save Simra please! Simra did nothing wrong this time, I was only trying to report back to Shokara!} She begged and the armor woman snapped at her.

{So you do speak! Why not before now?} Simra was shocked at the Shem speaking Qunlat even as the woman proceeded to try and straggle her, then something even more shocking happened.

Adaar stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on the woman before saying softly in her smooth voice. {Calm Kadan she would not have spoken as she thinks humans and most others don't speak any tongue she can speak.}

Sim was floored beyond anything she had ever experienced before, she knew Asaaranda would only call her soulmate that as she had made that vow in front of her.

Cassandra was shocked to find out that the elf was arrested for doing nothing more than trying to get down the mountain via hunting trails, when she was given her clothes to return she saw that the Val-Kos symbol was on every piece of plate on the armor. Angered she ordered the men who arrested her brought to the dungeons as she returned the clothes, once she handed Simra her clothes back she stripped without warning causing Cassandra to whip around to give her privacy and to try and un see her naked form. Asaaranda laughed before saying.

{In her clan and among the Val-Kos we don't have shame about changing in front of others, for the qunari we are just raised that there is no need to be ashamed about things like that. The elves just don't have the space among their camps to be shy.} Cassandra had no problem changing in front of other women but still liked to give others privacy.

Leliana watched as the soldiers were lead in to the room looking very confused at seeing the elf they had caught back in armor and armed with a very large bow and hunting knife. Leliana knew they would find no friends or mercy among any gathered here, she was appalled that an elf was grabbed on the grounds she was an elf using game trails.

"Why did you arrest this woman?" Cassandra demanded when the door had been closed, the men look between each other and the larger man but still shorter than Cassandra spoke.

"She was a knife ear fleeing the mountain it is a safe bet she was involved with the explosion seeker. Everyone knows that knife ears are either thieving servants or lairs and street rats." The man explained as if it was obvious as his partner nodded.

The only sign Leliana gave of anger was a slight frown and tightening of her Jaw and while Asaaranda and the elf Simra openly snarled she saw Adaar nod to her. Cassandra had the most explosive reaction by back handing the speaker hard enough to knock him flat on his was furious at the pair from their accents and dress additions she knew they hailed from Orlais, the maker damned place was rampant with that kind of view.

"That is no reason Elves are people just like us and every other race out there, you are part of the inquisition and we do not discriminate against others! Now if you had paid attention you would have noticed that she is wearing custom fitted armor of good make with the symbol of a mercenary group the divine hired on the plates, and that group had orders should something go wrong they were to rally at the base of the mountain! Now get out and you better change your attitude or next time to will spend time in one of these cells, also you are on latrine duty until further notice now get out!" The pair scrambled to run out as fast as they could.

Simra laughed at how similar to Asaaranda the seeker sounded when they yelled, she loved her squad leader like a mother even if they were only a few years apart. She was the one who carried her out of the hold on the slave ship when he was too weak from hunger to even stand. She was the one who spent the time to teach her to speak Qunlat and to help her get her strength back and she never made sim use a staff despite being a mage, Elgana she even taught Sim how to use her bow better for casting magic.

{Ha Asaaranda I like your soulmate she reminds me of you, I only hope she tells me yes a lot more than you do.}

{No I don't think she will Sim.}

{I hate those words!} She pouted ears drooping slightly. {No sim don't bother the bears, Sim don't throw the arsehole Shem out a window. See does not sound right like yes does, yes Sim have another tiny cake, go ahead Sim and kill those Shems. See sounds much better right?} Leliana smiled at how child like the woman seemed while adaar looked at her like a fond mother before patting her head gently.

{Come on Sim I have someone I want you to meet.} Asaaranda said leading the elf and seeker away while Leliana trailed behind smiling until she saw Adaar opening Josie's door, then she frowned already thinking she knew what this was.

Josephine was writing a letter to another noble asking for support, she looked up and Adaar's knock and voice before calling for her to come in. She saw at once the elven woman she was at once struck by how beautiful she was wrapped in armor that looked very strange the entire outfit appeared to be made out of materials she could not even begin to identify, she wore black leather boots that ended just above her knees in a crisscrossing pattern with points running down the front. She appeared to be wearing some kind of long sleeve smooth looking sliver chainmail that covered her throat, her arms had smooth bronze coloured plates on her elbows and forearms with a pair of two layered plates on each shoulder, her hands had fingerless gloves with leather padding on them. Her vest was bright green and sleeveless and scoped with a broad bronze coloured wrap around her stomach and green belt with bronze buckle hold it on.

The lower half also had sliver chainmail but a number of leaf shaped hanging on her sides with a pale blue one on top with a larger dark green one under them, she also had a narrow embroidered rounded rectangle in pale blue hang on her front with bronze piece hanging on it with a match wider cloth on her backside. But most catching of all was her bright green face tattoos that outlined her cheekbones and ran up her nose past her eyebrows to form a three pointed figure and it fanned out below her lips as well, her hair was a dark red that was pulled back in a single long braid that wrapped around her neck like a scarf making her Carmel skin stand out.

Simra looked at the Shem sitting there looking at Simra, she noticed how nice the woman looked Simra had always had a weakness for Ativan woman not surprising given she grew up in Antiva.

{Simra meet Josephine Montilyet our head ambassador, Josie meet Simra Lavellan my right hand in the Val-Kos and a mage like me who uses a bow She also understands common but does not speak it she only speaks Qunlat and elven. The only elf that I know of who speaks the entire language wholly not just bits and pieces.}.

[Andaran atish'an falon Simra Falon of Asaaranda.] she said politely

[ ma dirtha elvhenor?] She responded before realizing what had exactly had been said and froze for a moment. Josie got up to greet the elf shake hands with the elf hoping this was her soulmate but unsure, as she extended her hand was tackled into a hug by the short five foot three elf who was now babbling in elven that passed far too fast for her to understand.

Asaaranda laughed before grabbing the small elf by the neck and lifting her clean of the ground as she said in a chiding voice. {Your talking too fast again she has a passing understanding of your tongue.}

The elf's ears drooped before Josie laughed and kissed the woman's cheek. "Relax we will have time to get to know each other as you teach me your tongue, now I must get back to work but I would love to have supper with you later."

[Alright bye bye!] she said waving as Adaar carried her out and dropped her at the door. {I am going to go back to my work out, Seeker care to join me for a spar?} Cassandra nodded and the pair moved off, Leliana laid a firm hand on the elven woman's shoulder.

[A word alone if I may?] Simra nodded happy that someone else spoke her tongue but stumbled when she caught the dangerous look in the woman's eyes as they enter the empty war room.

ma dirtha elvhenor" means you speak eleven  
Andaran atish'an falon Simra Falon of Asaaranda: roughly means welcome friend Simra Friend of Asaaranda.

Comments and feedback welcome

prompts or ideas for storys or how this one should move forward welcome.

I based Simra of a favourite character from a series i love, Comment your guess as to who it is and where they are from.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Leliana threatens and the group moves out.

Chapter Text

Leliana threatens and the group moves out.

Simra entered the war room feeling like she had walked into a pit full of hungry wolves. Leliana watched the young woman who was Josie's soulmate, she saw that the woman was nervous and how she threaded her fingers together reminded her of her own soulmate. Her soulmate had been a twin one male the other female she had bounded with the female while the male bounded with Morrigan, her love was away but they still saw each other in dreams because of her heart's dalish spells.

[Relax please I will not harm you yet as that would upset Josie.] she said calmly and the woman snapped around and before Leliana could react she found herself pinned by force magic and a very sharp dalish knife against her throat.

Leliana had realized too late that this small elf was Adaar's right hand in the field and give Asaaranda's views and skill she had seen so far she should have realized that the second would be just as skilled as Adaar.

[You will not threaten me or my mate Shem! Or creators help me I will gut to faster than you can blink you pretty little eyes!] She snarled as Leliana looked into her eyes and saw the truth as much as she acted like a child this was a child raised by the qunari and dalish meaning this small woman had no fear and was a demon when hers were threatened.

[Now I thank you for caring about Ma Vhenan, but I will keep her safe and love as well as cherish her as I was taught and keep her safe from harm. But know this you will keep her safe when I travel with Adaar and if anything happens to her I will kill those responsible and those who let it happen.] With that the magic was gone and Leliana fell to her Knees and the woman pranced away pausing at the door on her way out. [Bye have a nice day and take our chat to heart.]

the pixie like woman left with a smile, Leliana sat there breathing as she thought about how her threat had gone so wrong. 'I forgot how the dalish raise their children in the woods they are demons when protecting their mates, at least I don't have to worry about her hurting Josie.' She thought as she got up and left to find Simra sitting on the floor leaning with her back against Josie's chair reading a large tome while Josephine's left hand idly stroked the woman's hair.

Three days later somewhere in the hitherlands

Solas was in a foul mood it had been three days since the group had left haven to find the chantry priest, which meant it had been three days of having to wait on the seeker of Varric to translate the conversation as the pair of mages preferred to speak only in Qunlat. The worst part of all was the elven woman he knew spoke fluent elven and Adaar spoke it as well but they refused to speak it in his presence, just like how they avoided him and refused to discuss magic near him saying that it was not for him to know. Asaaranda and Simra had been watching him and the way they watched him made him nervous as to what exactly they were watching for he had spied them using true elven magic one night on the mark to make it react, this made him nervous as how could those two know those old magics and if they knew those what else did they know? He was determined to find out tonight.

After setting camp Simra readied herself for another round of avoid the wolf, Solas acted so smug but both Sim and Asaar knew the truth about who he was they were just waiting to see what his game was. Just as Asaaranda started dinner Solas finally caught her alone, she growled at him snapping and telling him to leave her alone.

[Not until I know where you learned true elven magic and why you taught an outsider it!?] He snapped unable to contain his annoyance at her.

[Why dread wolf so you can trick us and ruin the world even more?] Sim snapped.

Solas felt like someone poured ice water over him, how was it possible that she knew that and had she told others. Solas needed those answers now even more than ever drawing on magic old he tried to use the marks on her face the ones of dirthmen to force her to tell him, but to his horror she just laughed. [Poor dread wolf the dalish washed the compulsion away years ago, after you ruined the world.]

[How do you know my title? Have you told others!] Solas growled advancing on her if need be he could erase her mind of this talk and make her forget about his true name.

[Adaar helped me figure it out we have laid plans so if you erase our minds the news will still spread, you ruined the world once and we will not allow you to do it again.] with that Simra pushed past him to the fire.

Solas was quiet the next day when the found the mother and got her help, he could not stop trying to figure out how they knew and why they were hiding it. A yell from the Templars brought his mind back to the presence as they attacked the camp of Templars. Adaar and the seeker fought side by side as the horned woman moved wreathed in lightening to slay and Templars that fell in the reach of her sword or dagger. Cassandra fought her way forward with the dwarf and elves covering her flank on one side as Adaar did the same on the other, Cassandra was impressed by the skill Sim was showing every bolt was laced with power had her barriers on Cassandra were never down long. Simra laughed she love the thrill of the fight it help take her mind of the dread wolf by her side, Simra preformed a long show that exploded killing the Templar it hit.

Simra was busy looting the dead when Solas came up and spoke quietly. [I am not your enemy I am trying to restore the world and it would have worked if the being with my orb had not survived.]

Sim rolled her eyes she had walked the crossroads with Adaar as after she vanished from Kirkwall she had taken Merrill's mirror with her at the request of Merrill and Hawke, Asaaranda had gotten it to work and learned the paths and learned the truth as did Simra later when Adaar showed it to her.

[Your attempts to help always end in tragedy Wolf mythal died because of you our empire fell because of your so called help and now you seek to destroy the world again.] Solas was upset how dare this Shem child dare to tell him that his help only brought ruin.

[I freed your people!]

[To be enslaved again, also you restore the world with you plan would burn it all save the dalish and a few other elf along with the ones still in the deep sleep would be the only ones to survive!] Solas was amazed that she was so blind. [It is for the best I will help the people!]

[What about the other races will you help them like you helped the dwarfs or will you just burn us all and save only you kind, all life is needed Solas this world has changed so much it is no longer the one you knew. The past is gone and this is the last time we will speak on this or Asaaranda and I will kill you and we know how, the past is gone and nothing will erase what you did instead of yearning for the past move for the future build a new path not the past.] With that she rose and left Solas Fuming at how blind she was.

Asaaranda meet the horse master and set a crow back to haven with the tasks and sights marked for their forces in order to get the horses while the group moved to set up camp so that at first light they could hunt for the wolves and the mages. Cassandra and Asaaranda crawled into their tent and stripped down to their underclothes curling up as they kissed, Cassandra moved her hands to cup Asaaranda's full breasts.

{Are you sure Kadan I thought you wanted to wait?} Adaar asked the seeker who simply nodded before pulling Adaar into a deeper kiss. Asaaranda growled and began what would be their first night of many filled with sex the last thing she did before starting to remove the clothes blocking her from the seeker was to cast wards of silence to insure no one heard them. The night pasted for them in a fury of passion and when Asaaranda went down on the seeker, Cassandra that Asaaranda enjoyed having her horns pulled on as she went down on the seeker who screamed while clutching the horns.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Simra gets her nickname

Notes:

Sorry guys in a transferring from word docs to the site some dialogue was lost in the chapter's 5-now so please reread them as they make a whole lot more sense if you read them.(If you have read the chapters that now contain the brackets like [ ] this then you are good)

Chapter Text

Ch.8 Simra gets her nickname.

Adaar snarled as the last mage in the hideout sent Cassandra flying with an ill-timed fireball, Asaaranda saw red at the sight of the seeker down on the ground she ordered the group back as she advanced on the mage alone. The mage had only just come out of the back room and had thought that the seeker was the biggest threat as he could handle any savage elves and qunari mage or not and a dwarf was laughable, that had been his thought until he saw the weapons hanging in the horned woman's hands wreathed in lightening. Panicking he hurled another fire ball at the unshielded mage but to his great horror it simply wrapped around her forming a coating of fire. He tried to use a burning style of the frost step to escape but before he could move the mage was in front of him looking up at him. Looking up? That could not be right as he was shorter how could he be looking down, that was when he saw the sword hilted in his ribcage and the pain caught up with him. Before he died he heard in the tongue of the savage before him and for a reason he would never know he understood her.

{That is for my mate, burn wherever you Bas go!} She snarled.

Cassandra recovered quickly and the group moved on to finish the wolves off so that they could focus the next few days on closing the nearby rifts while the towers were built. The fight with the wolves was simple compared to fighting mages or Templars, the Demon had tried to sneak up on and kill Simra but as the demon reared to kill her it found itself wrapped in vines. Simra smirked at the demon for getting too close to her, instead of other kinds of traps Sim used spell grown vines that attacked anything not her that entered her circle. The vines wrapped tighter around the demon as the vines fed on the life force and mana in the demon, the vines were her own creation a thorn covered ivy that basically eats anything that has life in it.

Varric at the end of the fight walked up to Simra and whistled at the pile of dying vines that had once been a demon.

"Well vines you really know how to mark your personal space." Varric drawled and chuckled when Simra tilted her head like a confused puppy.

{Why are you talking to the vines Tale spinner?} Varric chuckled at the nick name Asaaranda had given him after he started calling her sparks.

"I am not talking to the plants I was calling you Vines!"

{Why Simra is Simra or sim not vines?}

"It is a nickname Vines it is like when I call Asaaranda sparks."

{Oh! Thank you Tale spinner Asaaranda says that is a good thing to get from you, I am going to go tell her!} She darted in giving him a crushing hug before skipping off to tell the qunari, Leaving chuckling at how the young woman shifted from one thing to another.

After the towers were built and all the pressing rifts were dealt with the group left the hitherlands to return to haven. Simra was starting to annoy Cassandra the closer they got to haven as the woman was bouncing on her feet whenever they stopped and was always trying to hurry them along, she mention this fact to Adaar when they were laying together after sex one night.

{It is simple Kadan she has lost every member of her family before and she was alone for a long time, it took her some time to trust anyone besides me. I mean for the first year after I saved her she never left my side like a little shadow, but now she has found her soulmate so she wanted to be there to protect her and make her happy.} That made Cassandra feel ashamed as she had not thought about how Simra's past would affect her, Adaar and Cassandra moved on to happier topics until they fell asleep knowing tomorrow they would be sleeping in a real bed.

Josephine had been burning through her work faster than ever before as Leliana told her at breakfast today that Simra would be back today, Josie was eager to get the work done before they arrive so that only the war council remained then she could spend the rest of the day with her soulmate. Simra had been using dalish magic to visit her in her dreams and showing her the wonders she had seen in the fade, Josephine had been nervous about it in the beginning but now it was easily her favourite part of the day. She finished the last letter and cleaning her desk before rising to take a small walked to stretch out before the group arrived with the horses and the horse master Adaar had somehow convinced to join them, the woman had proven adept at recruiting despite not speaking much. She had gathered a group of skilled workers for Cullen's forces and a mage for Leliana's magic research, she also managed to get a cult to worship her having them spread the inquisition's name while also acquiring a young lord and his forces at the same time.

Leliana watched from haven's gates with Cullen and Josie as the herald's group helped get the horses settled, she saw a sight that made her heart ache as Simra helped herd the horses on the back of a red hart. Her love had a hart that was the purest black with white horns but the sight of a elven rouge mage ridding a hart still made her miss her soulmate all the more, she thought back to meeting her soulmate all those years ago in that tavern. Back then she did not know the slight dalish pirate mage was her soulmate as the words were wrong, but that night she learned they had met once but Leliana had not known it and so had never said anything making her first words the ones at the tavern.

Selva said she met her when she picked her pocket in a port, Leliana had been just become a full bard and was walking by the port when a young elven pirate had bumped into her and before she could say anything the woman back away speaking quickly as she vanished into the crowd it was not until that night she had realized the elf had stolen not only her coin purse but also bra! Years later she would mention this and to her great surprise Selva produce the mentioned bra from her pack saying that a bet had been made that she could not steal the bra and coin purse off a bard and the bra along with coin purse had won her the seat on the ship as the second in command thus she kept both the purse and bra as a reminder of the day she became an officer on the ship, now she carried them to remind her of leliana or that is what she told Leliana anyways.

The war meeting was almost over when Josie broached the last subject on the meeting. "Having the herald meet with the clerics is not a terrible idea." She began slowly and as she knew he would Cullen responded loudly.

"You can't be serious!"

"We need to show them we are not a monster they have only heard rumours at this point." She pointed out and the whole thing would have broken down if the group of the three advisors along with Simra had not noticed Asaaranda lean down to whisper into the seeker's ear who was currently trapped against Adaar who was leaning against a wall. The seeker had not fought since the first time and simply gave into the fact that if they were standing and Adaar could lean somewhere and Cassandra was not needed to stand elsewhere she was to be wrapped in an embrace by Adaar, who like Sim had problems about insuring her mate was safe.

"What is the herald saying?" Leliana asked Cassandra looked up without a massive blush signalling that it was just talk not smut that Adaar was also prone to whisper to the seeker to get a rise out of the woman.

"She said that the biggest problem is the fact that she barely can speak Common let alone make a speech in front of a crowd." The advisors stop cold at the realization that was a really big problem, if they used anyone to speak for her it might lead to the rumour that the herald was just a figure head and that they were twisting the words of the herald.

Oddly enough is was Simra who suggested the solution. {Assar?}

{Yes Sim?} {What about the demon speak?} Asaaranda face palmed having completely forgotten about that spell.

Once Cullen and Josephine heard the translation Cullen looked ready to yell before Adaar started explaining through Cassandra.

{Not true demons Fur collar.} Cullen bristled slightly at the nickname. {She means the fact that demons can speak to all not matter the language by making you feel the intent of the words even if you do not speak the tongue.} Josephine perked up as she heard the translation an idea forming in her mind already on how to use that knowledge, after confirming that the spell was not noticeable in its casting or overly hard on the mages she proposed her idea.

"We can use that spell to our advantage, if we tell no one about the spell and have mistress Adaar use it while giving the speech it will seem as if she was truly divinely sent as they would still hear the language but understand the words even they don't speak the language which was a feat Andraste preformed when giving her speeches." The group agreed to the plan of using the spell and having Simra shield the spell from detection by Templars, once that was dealt with the meeting broke up Asaaranda heading off with Cassandra and Cullen help train the soldiers while Leliana left to manage the spies.

"Ma vhenan care to try and learn more of my mother tongue?" Simra asked stuttering slightly while bouncing like a puppy on the balls of her feet, Josephine smiled and agreed and let the woman dragged her off to cabin they had been given to share.

The cabin was the one that Adaar had been given but the horned woman simply moved her and Cassandra into the old alchemists cabin as it had more room for the potion making Adaar did to enhance her spells with the original flasks the tempest used. Instead of seating her at the desk like she thought Sim had Josie change into a comfortable pair of pants and tunic while she climbed into bed, once changed Simra tucked her in between the elf's legs while Simra pulled a lap desk over them both in a way that both could reach it with no problem.

"First we start with basics our letters and how each sound before moving on." She explained in her slow stuttering speech, having heard Simra speak in rapid fire elven made Josie want to learn as fast as possible to learn so she could hear the song like language fell from her soulmate's lips more often.  
Josie had learned several languages over the years so by the end of the night they had started on learning a few basic words and simple phrases, Simra made her promise to practice her letters every night and gave her a hand bound book full of simple sentences she had made for Adaar when she was teaching the qunari the tongue. Josie took it and was given a promise that for every sentence properly translated before Simra got back from Val Royeaux she would give Josie one of the dalish sweet treats she had.

"Are they that good?" She challenged and before she could say more Sim popped one into Josie's mouth making the woman groan in pleasure, the treat was sinfully good she wanted more but soon it was gone.

Simra wrote on the board instead of speak for ease. 'I can make a version out of most plants as long as I have elf root, so for every one you get right I will give you a different flavour and then next time you can chose the flavour if you ask in elven.' She drew a smirking cat face at the end, after Josie agreed they cleaned up and went to bed.

They had done nothing past making out as they were waiting for the letter from Josie's parents before going farther, not that either would allow them to be forced apart but Josie felt it was best to wait until it was officially acknowledge. That way her family did not suffer from their affair, Simra was happy to agree on the terms they still slept in the same bed and did not try to hid the fact they were soulmates. Josie had agreed to those terms before she found out that Simra preferred to sleep in a small deep cut deep green sleeveless form hugging tunic that barely covered her stomach and a pair tight shorts that barely covered her bottom and the same colour as her tunic. This fact made it hard to fall asleep for Josie as she slept in a ruffled night gown that was a smooth cotton and coloured gold, the main reason it was hard was Simra liked to wrap around her making Josie very aware of her state of dress. But she still slept, despite the arousal that would plague her for the first bit each night.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: speech, dinner and an ambush

Chapter Text

CH.8 Speech dinner and an ambush.

The group moved through the streets of the city towards the crowd that had gathered in the square, Cassandra scowled at what the chantry mothers were yelling to the crowd. The crowd made way for Asaaranda and her group and when they reached the front of the crowd the woman on stage saw them, Whipping to face them the old woman point a withered old finger at Asaaranda and began yelling even louder.

"I tell you the maker would send no savage mage to save us! She is a false prophet!" Asaaranda reared to her full height of over seven feet and spoke in a loud smooth voice, her magic coating the words so all would know what she said.

{I alone have survived the breach and was blessed with the power to seal the breach, if your god sent me is not the important matter here it is the matter of the giant hole in the sky. All who walk this earth must band together to help seal this hole before it damages the world more!} She turned to the crowd and cried out to them magic carrying her words to every ear in range of her spells.

{People of every walk of life are threatened from the lowest slave to the highest kings, I have the tool needed to close the breach but I cannot do it alone! All I seek is an end to the danger the breach poses nothing more. This is not the time to fight amongst ourselves we need the power of all the people to end this world so I ask for any help anyone can offer to the inquisition to help yourselves and the world!} Cassandra felt herself being caught up in the spirit of her plea and knew she was not using magic to do anything more than speak to the crowd.

The mother on stage saw the crowd turning and was about to make a plea when she saw the Templars coming. "See herald the true protectors of the chantry return to save us from your lies!" Before the bitch could say more she was punched out by the lord seeker, he turned to the herald as waiting for a reaction and he got one.

There was a flash of light and Adaar stood between the downed priest and seeker lord, she glared at the man and used her magic to carry her voice as Simra who had followed her up began healing the woman. {You are a seeker meaning you serve the faith of the chantry therefore you should not have struck a defenceless woman. What do you have to say for yourself?}

"I owe you nothing Herald you are beneath me!" he said with a sneer and Asaaranda saw a slip of the tongue and used it.

{I did not ask for you to explain to me, I asked you to explain yourself in front of these people and the maker who you serve why you struck one of his own.} The crowd started muttering amongst themselves at that, the seeker sneered at her and ordered the Templars to March but one asked what if adaar was really maker sent.

{If you wish to believe that it is your choice and any who seek to help us in sealing the breach are welcomed. Also one who was once a part of your order lead our army so we know how to make sure the Templars have their lyrium, so Templars join us do not march off to wait until it is too late!} She cried out to them and serval looked like they were about to join when the seeker's more loyal ones pushed them onwards to the gates.

Sera sat on top of the upper walkways railings watching the large woman give her speech and knew that either the lady was all touched or using some freaky magic to make her understand that weird gunk she was speaking, after lord prissy left with his tin toys she stood on the railing and shot her message arrow before hiding. The whistle of the arrow must have been heard because before it could strike it was pulled from the air by the bow carrying elf and tossed aside as the woman spun nocking her own arrow and sighting where Sera had been standing.

'Shite what in the maker tits is that chick!' Sera thought as she hid deeper in the shadows glad she had used the cloaking powders to hid, the woman watched for a time before her arrow glowed and she shot up into the air. The bolt struck the railing sera had been standing on and fire spread out and quickly vanished as the group turned to grab the arrow and leave, slowly Sera crawled out of the shadows to see what the fire had damaged.

The damage was a scorched railing in the shape of common tongue writing with a simple message. 'Elf, I saw you there know this warning fire at us again and you will burn in fires hotter than the Shem pyres for their dead.' Sera paled at the words written there and hoped she did not die at the end of this little game and test for the herald.

The group headed to the party after finding to all the notes, the plan was to meet this strange mage then go to find the out what was waiting for them in the alleyway not far from the party. The men stayed outside as only the herald was invited but she need an interpreter and Simra wanted tiny cakes and Adaar did not want to have to try and sneak out tiny cakes to the small elf plus it would show that she did not bow to the mage, the announcer stopped them at the doors and he cast a sneer at the elf in the group.

"I am sorry my lady herald but only you are invited the others must remain outside." The tone in his voice belayed the words of sorry.

{Kadan please tell the old bas that you are my soulmate along with speaker and Simra is my left hand and advisor so where I go she goes.} The old man looked confused before Cassandra spoke.

"She said that I am her soulmate and that Simra was her left hand and advisor so where Adaar goes she follows." The old man looked like he wanted to fight it but saw the weapons hanging on the waists and backs of the woman and decided happy mage happy life and let them in.

Vivienne Watched the woman they called the herald of Andraste enter the party with the famous seeker Pentaghast on her left and a strangely armored dalish elf on her right. The qunari woman looked around her with eyes searching every face there, then the woman started moving forward as the steward announced her.

"Presenting Lady Asaaranda Adaar the herald of Andraste, member of the inquisition, accompanying the herald, Lady Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast right hand of the late divine and the right hand of the herald of Andraste and hero of Orlais seventieth eighth in line for the Nevarran throne and soulmate to the herald of Andraste, and Mistress Simra Lavellan of the inquisition and advisor in arcane matters and left hand of the herald." Vivienne raised an eyebrow at the title of the elf who at the moment was busy swiping tiny cakes from a passing server like a small puppy.

'the inquisition is in more trouble than I thought if that creature is one of their arcane advisors and the herald's left hand.' She thought as she watched a man confront the herald and began slandering her. Vivienne was furious at the fool who dared to disrupt her party in a foolish attempt at glory, but still she smirked at how this gave her a chance to show the herald her skills and impress the woman.

That plan was ruined as the moment the fool laid a hand on his hilt and Vivienne readied her spell the herald moved, covered in a single heartbeat with lightning and holding the man by his throat off the ground.

{Careful what you ask for Bas or I will grant it and you will die like the mongrel you are!} Vivienne did not understand what was said until the seeker translated for her and the man begged before she dropped him and turned to look at her directly.

{You are slow on the draw mage, if you seek to freeze an opponent like that you must begin casting as soon as he moves not as he draws.} When the seeker translated it was all Vivienne could do not to blush from shame and anger at having been beaten at her own game and being scolded in magic like she was an apprentice again.

Vivienne moved them into a hallway and made her case and offer. {Very well you may join and if you join my team on missions to deal with matters in field I will expect you to listen to either myself, my soulmate or Simra my left hand understand.}

When translated it made Vivienne's teeth grind at the thought of serving a lesser mage like a dalish savage but she agreed as this woman would be key in times to come. {Good now if you excuse us we have better things to do this night than be gawked at by Bas farewell woman of iron we will see you in haven.} After it was translated they left and Vivienne was left wondering how much of the game this woman understood as the way she handle herself tonight showed either a fool in the game or someone who knew how to play people.

Sera walked up to the corpse of the noble sod who had hurled fire. {You know leading me into an ambush is a good way to die by my hands.}

Sera stared blankly until the well fit armored lady standing beside the herald translated. "Hey I know jack shite about this bloke all I know is my friends said you would want to look at him. But time for talk later! Here come his guards, I am Sera and this is cover get round it. Don't worry I got tipped their supply shed they have no breeches!" she said laughing as the first guards appeared.

She start to draw her bow when the qunari rushed in wrapped in lightning killing the first three to appear before darting off for the next, to Sera's horror the bodies became shrouded in black mist before rising and attacking the other guards whenever one of the dead killed one of none dead shites the mist jumped to that blighter and he moved instead to kill another. Sera shot arrow after arrow while watching out of the corner of her eye the rest of the heralds people, the armored woman stayed on the herald's right side keeping her safe while the herald now on fire cut down more of the shites.

The other elves stood with a dwarf firing at anything that was not Sera or the sword swinging women, the male elf was clearly a mage swing his staff around like that but the other elf was also mage but used a bow instead of a staff making arrows that exploded or ones that froze or shocked the things they hit. The dwarf just using a strange crossbow but killed just as much.

Simra walked up with Cassandra and Asaaranda when the fighting ended to talk with the elf. "Wow he-heard about you kind but seeing is different but the important thing is you glow, you're the herald thing."

Sim likde this bouncy elf, she reminded Simra of Sim and after she made an offer to Join Simra spoke up in elven to test the woman and to ask Asaaranda something. [Can we keep her please I like her Simra needs more playmates and things it is boring when you are fucking the seeker and Josie is busy. Please can we keep her I promise to feed the elf?]

[Sim she is not a dog and yes I was planning to take her but she does not seem to like magic so don't be sad if she does not want to play with you.]

{Cassandra tell her we accept and that Simra is happy to have someone closer to her age and energy level to play with.}

Sera was confused and unhappy when the elfy elf started jabbering in elven to the herald and shocked when the herald jabbered back, then the herald spoke in another language to the seeker who translated to Sera. "What the shite were they talking about and who is Simra and what do you me play with."

The seeker sighed before speaking. "The dalish with the bow over there is Simra, and she and adaar were talking I don't know what was said as I don't speak elven but Simra is younger than the rest of us and more childlike. She understands common but cannot speak it she speaks Qunlat and elven instead but my guess was she was begging Adaar to agree to your offer." Sera was confused by the fact that the dalish wanted to play but hey if she was not trying to convert her Sera was fine with playing around with the elf and said as much.

She found herself grabbed in a huge hug and Elven that for some shite she could now understand came rapid fire. [Yea I have a new playmate it is soooo boring when the seeker and Adaar are busy fucking and Josie is too busy to play with me her soulmate can you believe that? Anyway now I have someone else to play pranks with you like pranks right?] She asked with a tilted head, and Sera was speechless for a brief moment.

"How the shite am I understanding you?! Also yes I love pranks I am a Jenny for shites sake!" she cried scared

"You can understand her because when they desire it Sparks and Vines here can use magic to make themselves understood. They don't do it much because it uses up mana they normally save." The dwarf explained and after a few more moments and question all around they left to return to haven.


	10. Chapter 10 arrival

Chapter 10: arrival and lessons taught and learned

Chapter Text

Ch.9 Arrival

Sera had to finish some jenny business in the city first and Vivienne needed to pack and make sure everyone knew where she was going so the group had left before the pair, the moment the group arrived the males pealed off to attend to their own matters while the woman went to discuss the events in the city with the war council. Josephine was nearly bursting with glee at how the herald and the other had dealt with the crowds, Leliana was smiling as well but far calmer than Josie and Cullen looked sullen that the Templars had refused.

{Refusing to join the Qunari savage mage and her heretic cause to seal a hole in the sky that they blame me for? No that makes no sense at all, but given that most Templars probably can't tell which boot goes on which foot I am not surprised you think that Pussy cat!} Cullen glared when he received the translation, Simra just watched until she saw his right hand start to move towards his sword.

There was a sharp sound that all but Josephine knew to be a knife flying through the air before it embedded itself in the wall behind Cullen's head, the room turned to look at Simra who was glaring at Cullen with two more daggers in her hands.

[Do not reach for your blade again! Take it off and give it to Simra, Simra will keep it from now on when it this room. Sim does not trust you Shem you tried once to kill Asaaranda Sim will not let that happen again!] She snarled and when Cullen got the translation this time he roared out.

"Not a chance! Why should we trust you with it? You might decide to kill me anyways!" Cullen was about to rant more when Leliana spoke up if only to get them back on track.

"Commander if any of us besides Josie wanted you dead while in this room you would be dead, Simra is more than capable of killing you sword or no sword. They only want you unarmed because you reached for your weapon in their presence and you tried to Kill Adaar at one point." Cullen scowled but gave in and Simra Simply sat on a stack of boxes near the door watching the room the whole time. Once the meeting broke up the soul pairs left to have time to themselves while the commander and the bard left to take care of the tasks assigned to them.

Sera was in the process of sneaking into heaven that night, she was slowly moving along the wall surrounding the village. She was not sneaking for bad reasons she just wanted to get a look around before any of the herald's people could shut up the little people, and that was what she needed to prevent to make sure that she was not being tricked about what the herald and her crew were really like. Her plan had been working until suddenly a large weight dropped of the wall unseen by Sera and crushed her into the ground, before she could even begin fighting there was a knife pressed tight against her throat and the tingle of magic flowing over her to lock her in position, the weight shifted as the elf Sera knew this by the size of the hands as they forced her wrist together.

[Asaaranda says that those sneaking outside of camp need to be caught, but since Simra can't play with Josie because of Shem lords preening you will play the talking game with Simra!] Sera realized that the elf squatting on her was the elf that had wanted to play earlier in the city, at any other point she might be freaking over now understanding elven but as she freaking out about the razor sharp knife siting against her neck.

"Shite get off me! It was you who wanted me to join so no slashing my throat you head touched ditz!" as soon as the words left her mouth she began to regret them as you never yelled at the crazy chick holding a knife to your throat.

Simra hopped off the other elf and released her magic that held the young woman, Simra had bad memory for faces and names and even worse when she had only seen them once and it was night when she saw them again. After the elf stood up Sim remembered her and bow halfway while apologizing to the elf before asking her some that was confusing Simra. [Why did Sera not use the gate like people coming should? If you did not want to be jumped on by Simra then why sneak around the walls?]

Sera stared at the elf who even in her crazed mind was clearly a few logs short of a pyre. "I wanted to make sure that you people weren't hurting the little people before fully joining!"

[Why not walk in with a crowd? Sim does it all the time to kill the people Asaara tells Simra to kill, it is also the best way to steal when Simra is given permission to or told to!] Sera was still in some state of shock staring at the elf that had gone from planning to torturing her to talking about how best to sneak into places and killing or stealing from people, the worst part was she kept a child-like glee about it the whole time.

[do you want to go get some tarts? The tavern has good tarts and the barmaid is pretty to look at, if Simra did not have Josie Sim would be working on get the barmaid out of her dress!] Simra chattered while dragging along Sera who had just recovered from the threatening was now shocked over the talking about chasing barmaids, but the was something she knew about and quickly perked up at the thought of a pretty barmaid to play with. As Sera started to lay down by the hearth at the tavern for the night as she arrived too late in the day to get assigned a bed she had to admit that Simra was right about the barmaid and the tarts, before she could lay down though the barmaid stopped her and grabbed her hand before kissing her and dragging her off to the maid's tent.

Vienne arrived the following morning just as the soldiers finished their morning drills with Cullen, Cassandra had taken to getting out of bed long enough to do her daily prayers before Asaaranda dragged be back to bed for something that woke them both. Due to that Cullen was left to deal with the morning drills alone while Cassandra took the evening drills in exchange, Vienne watched the majority of the soldiers file away but a number of the younger men stayed behind.

'What are they waiting for?' She wondered as the younger men started find seats with a clear view of the main sparring ring, she received her answer in the form of the Herald and the seeker arriving holding hands quickly followed the dalish savage and a woman Vienne recognized as Josephine Montilyet.

When the savage kissed the ambassador deeply before skipping away to the center of the ring drawing a pair of practice daggers from her belt Vienne scowled at the sight, she understood having an affair with an elf they were pleasant looking after all but it should be kept hidden not flaunted. As the Herald kissed the seeker before moving to join the elf in the ring Vienne approached the pair of women watching from the side lines as the mages limbered up.

"Ambassador a word to the wise not all nobles that visit will be from the back country so you might want to keep that hidden." Vienne said as she joined the pair, she was not about to let the young ambassador make too many mistakes as it would look bad for her.

"Keep what hidden ma'am?" Josephine asked and Vienne bit back a sigh at how naïve the woman was being, really she had heard better things about her.

"My dear it is fine to have an elven lover but not in public, think of your image if you are seen acting like that in front of other nobles. One must keep their affairs with elves quiet." The mage's head snapped to the side as Josephine slapped her hard across the face, the sound captured the attention of Simra and Adaar who had been about to begin.

"How dare you insult me and my soul mate in such a fashion lady Vienne, and even if I was not bonded to Simra I would still have slapped you for suggesting that elves are lesser beings!" Josie snapped and Cassandra saw something that did not bode well, the mage pair were coming over and looked down right murderous especially Simra.

[Ma vhenan what is the matter?] Simra asked Josie when she came close and wrapped her arms around her from behind, Josie quickly explained and when she finished Simra stepped back before moving to stand in front of the human mage.

{Seeker please inform the bitch she is to get her combat gear on and met Simra in the ring so Simra can teach her respect, Simra is also going to beat her flat for insulting Ma Vhenan!} Simra snarled her normally musical voice becoming harsh before stalked away too ready her bow and real knives.

When Vienne was told she smirked coldly glad for the chance to show the herald what she could do and to vent her anger at being slapped for the sake of an elf, she was already in her combat out fit so she simply fetched her spirit hilt and staff from her horse before entering the ring. The crowd gather was of no concern for either mage both waiting for the start signal from the seeker.

Vienne was still smirking as she was one of the best knight enchanters of the circle, a simple dalish mage even trained by the qunari would not be able to beat her she was sure of that. The seeker rang a bell to signal the start of the fight, Vienne quickly spun snapping out a bolt of frost from her staff at the elf. But Simra was no longer there instead an arrow crashed into the bolt causing an explosion of fire and ice, Vienne spun trying to find the mage only to be thrown down towards the ground by a fire arrow exploding against her back. She rolled as she fell rising quickly and catching a glimpse of Simra Vienne fade steps after her, she reasoned getting in close would put the elf at a disadvantage as she used a bow while Vienne as a master of the spirit hilt. That idea was what Simra had been hoping for as while she preferred the bow for fighting in a group she was a true master of one on one close quarter/melee combat, as Vienne swung her spirit hilt Simra blocked it with a spectral blade that leapt from the hilt of her hunting knife.

Vienne was shocked to see a spectral blade emanating from the hilt of her opponent's knife, smirking Simra flung her bow to the side as she flowed like water around Vienne twisting the human mage's blade until the mage was force to drop it. the moment the enchanter's blade vanished Simra seized the wrist of the hand that had been holding it and spun the wrist up behind the human's back, she then kicks the back of the right knee on the mage driving her to the ground and forcing her to drop the staff on the way down before landing on her right arm trapping it. Simra placed the hunting knife against the throat of the mage before using magic to make her understand Simra's words.

[Next time you try and come between me and my soulmate I will kill you, or if I ever hear about you acting rudely, speaking rudely to or about elves ever again I will take your shem tongue from your head!] She snarled low enough that only the mage on the ground could hear, she then jumped off before collecting her bow and soulmate and heading off to spend time with each other.

Vienne rose to her feet and watched them leave, she had been too sure of her skills and place in the world it seemed while living in the circle. She left to find her quarters thinking she may have been letting others views cloud her thinking in regards to the other races, after all just because they did not play the game or have circle did not mean they could not have great players and mages. With those thoughts she left the remaining bonded pair to their training. The young men watched her go before returning their attention to the pair that had stripped off their coats to practice grappling before moving on to more sparing, the young men watched to well formed women fight until their captains yelled for them to get to work.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Sera and Vivienne

Chapter Text

Ch.10 Vivienne and Sera met face to face at last.

Sera sat on top of the walls surrounding haven laughing madly as lady prissy pants got her pampered arse handed to her by Vines, she was laughing at the end of the match so hard she nearly fell off the wall. 'Man vines is one scary little shite!' Sera thought as she watched the bouncy little mage go off with the lady ambassador, sera turned her attention back to the court mage who was picking herself up and walking off with a noble aura 'She is a looker if you get past the whole mage and noble part.' Sera thought to herself as she jumped off the wall to go find some trouble to get into.

Vivienne walked towards her small cabin after the evening meal while enjoying the quiet the night brought, that quiet was shattered quickly by the sounds of a bottle shattering against a wall. "Get back here you little bitch!"

Vivienne stopped and looked for the source of the noise wondering if an innocent woman was being attack, if that was the case the attacker would soon feel the wrath of a mage Vivienne promised herself. As it turned out a second later the elven street rat that the herald had recruited came running out of a side street yelling over her shoulder.

"Not my fault your woman kissed back and climbed into my lap!" She yelled in a laughing voice at an enraged drunk man.

Vivienne sighed at the sight before her before she moved down the path to her cabin once more. If the elf could not handle a single drunk than she would be no use in the herald's quests was Vivienne as she strode into her cabin, she had just finished changing into her night gown to sleep when a knock on the door sounded. When she opened the door she found a scout who passed on the message that the herald requested her presence in the alchemist's cabin for breakfast to discuss travel arrangements for the journey, the scout also mention as long as she covered her breast and neither regions any state of dress would be acceptable as the herald and her second would be doing some basic beauty maintenance before during and after the meal the other women in the inner circle would be joining them as well. Vivienne closed the door and finished preparing for bed, when she laid down to sleep she found herself wondering what kind of beauty treatments the qunari and dalish had and what the pair would be doing.

Sera walked to the cabin that Asaaranda shared with Cassandra for the strange breakfast thing they wanted, a scout had jumped out of an alleyway and knocked out the man who had been chasing her last night to deliver the message about the breakfast. So here Sera stood knocking on the door and upon hearing the answer to come in she entered, she walked in to find the other women dressed comfortably in casual clothes that in her mind made her drool over every last one of them. Adaar and the seeker were dressed in nothing but breast bands and shorts, Vines was dress in a short tight sleeveless tunic with green short shorts while her soul mate was dressed in a frilly night gown the bard was dressed a form fitting dark blue tunic and matching pants. The one that caught and held Sera's eye was the sleek court mage dressed in a pale ice blue night gown with a deep v neck that was fitted to show off her assets nicely, Sera had removed her coat and winter gear and stood in a baggy brown tunic with matching pants.

Vivienne watched the new arrival as she waited for a proper first introduction but all she received from the herald was a quick few words as the herald lounged on the floor next to the bed leaning against the seeker's shins. "Sera, Vivienne say hi." Was all she said as she watched while the young elven mage sat on the floor leaning against the legs of young Josephine who sat in a chair running her hands through the young woman's hair.

"Yeah saw your match with Vines she showed you proper didn't she?" the street rat said and Vivienne snarked right back at her as she would not lose a battle of wit or snark.

"Yes and you my dear are the one who was chased through the village by a drunk fool." As soon as the words left her mouth Vivienne watched as all colour drained from the elf's face and she started to smirk before she remembered what exactly the words the elf had said were then she paled as well.

The silence that had come on the coat tails of the snark was shattered as Simra started howling with laughter at their faces. [Simra thought Josie and Vines were an odd match but this takes all of the frilly little cakes!] She wheezed out before laughing again.

After Simra calmed down they all sat down and sorted out the sleeping arrangements for the group of females that would be traveling as the males had already been figured out early, Simra would sleep on her own in a smaller tent while the bonded pairs slept in their own tents. After everything was sorted Vivienne started to rise intending to take Sera and find some where quiet to speak, Sparks saw this and spoke up and Cassandra translated.

{Sit Vivienne you and Sera can speak here while Sim and I let our bond mates play with our hair and horns, that way we will be here to help lessen any stress.} Vivienne sat with a nod of thanks as Sera reached for more pancakes that sat on a low table, Josephine and Cassandra stood before moving to a small end table to grab a pair of cases before retaking their seats.  
Vivienne watched with interest as Cassandra clothe that she draped over Asaar's hair then she pulled out what looked like a sanding stone for a woman's calluses and started sanding Asaar's horns, she coughed lightly to get the attention of the qunari who's head was forward with her eyes close. "My dear what is the point of that?" She asked quietly and it was Cassandra who answered instead.

"Her horns grow like trees, sanding them keeps them smooth and even though they can feel with them they can feel the vibrations of the sand stone, Assar told me it is very soothing." Vivienne nodded before asking something that she just thought of now that she knew they grew.

"Is there was of decorating them for fashion or events and religion?"

"Yes according to Asaaranda they can be engraved with designs and painted or they have end caps made that serve the same purpose."

"Wonderful darling then would be open to doing that when you need to meet with nobles, it would allow us to make your horns something to be envied not something they could use to shame you." Adaar said something and Cassandra translated.

"She says she had been planning on suggesting it." talk drifted off so only Sera and Vivienne were talking quietly; they spoke of nothing just idle chatter comparing the places they had been.  
After a bit Sera had moved to Vivienne's side to speak more quietly as well as watch the bonded pair, Leliana was sitting on her right which was fine with Sera as the bard and her new soulmate were both easy on the eyes. Her ears perked up as she got a fun idea, she had never seen Simra mad or upset up close even when Simra was threating her she was still so puppy like she wanted to see if she could rill the woman.

"Yo Sim I thought you elfy elves wore bones braided into your hair or something, what were you not good enough?" She taunted and she was to busily focusing on her target so she missed the tensing in all the other women.

[Simra only wears the bones we she is at formal events or ceremonies because the keeper told Simra to wear them all or wear none.] Simra laid magic in her voice to make her understood but there was a bite of iron telling Sera to stop that line of questions, but that made Sera push harder not noticing as Asaar began shifting to spring quickly if needed.

"What too few that your embarrassed to show them?" she teased more somehow not noticing that the two women sitting near her started moving away from her.

[No too many that they jingle and the keeper once told Sim that it would scare prey off.]

"Keeper this Keeper that, you should stop listening to what others think and tell your bitch of a keeper to stuff it and do what you want." As soon as the words left Sera's mouth she knew she said something really wrong as Simra's eyes started watering before she started to curl into a ball shaking as she silently cried, before she could even begin to apologize she was pinned to the wall head nearly touching the roof as Asaaranda had her pinned there with one hand while the other had a gleaming knife held to Sera's throat.

{Simra's clan is gone you bitch! The Val-kos and Josephine are all that she has left in the world.} Sera paled as she realized that she had not bothered to learn if the clan was still around first.

{Another thing is that the bitch of a keeper as you called her was her mother! Now get the fuck out and stay away until we say otherwise!} With that Adaar tightened her grip and bodily carried her to the door before hurling her into the snow and hitting her with her winter clothes as she tossed them out after her.  
Sera just laid there for some time before Vivienne came out to her, Vivienne crouched by her head and spoke softly to her. "What you did was stupid and needlessly cruel my dear, but I can see that you know that. So let's get you out of the cold and back to my cabin and we will begin thinking of ways for you to make it up to the young woman."

Sera nodded and gathered her outer clothes and together they walked back to Vivienne's cabin, they spent the day and night coming up with a plan to properly make amends. The next morning Simra entered Josie's office to find a parcel for her sitting on the desk, a letter sat on top of it that told Simra how sorry Sera was about yesterday it was written by Vivienne but dictated by Sera. Inside the parcel was a large amount of elf root and blood lotus, her favourite herbs for making dalish treats also inside was a few Dalish trinkets and even a set of plans for Dalish warrior armor.  
But it was the last item in the parcel that made Simra's eyes water for a different reason than the day before, even though the newly bound pair did not know what the knife they had placed in the parcel was beyond a dalish knife it still brought tears to Simra's eyes. The knife had in fact been the hunting knife that had belonged to her father a fellow mage who and been killed by Templars and his knife had vanished with him, the knife was like hers in the blade a simple hunting blade but the hilt was carved with the image of a halla and hart playing in a forest.

Simra could feel the power of her father's spirit hilt pulsing warm in her hand as she ran magic over it. Simra took her own knife and placed her father's knife in its place settling in the sheath perfectly, she rushed out the room to tell Josie and Asaar the news. That night Sera climbed into bed with Vivienne for sleep as Vivienne wanted to wait until their aura's was synced first, but Sera did not care she had made up with Simra and was back to being friends and possibly even better friends than before so she drifted of curled up in the arms of Vivienne around her with a smile on her lips.


	12. Chapter 12 blackwall and Iron bull

Chapter 12: Blackwall and Iron bull

Chapter Text

CH. 12 find a wall and leash an iron bull.

Sera was riding on a Hart that the avaar sent to them beside Simra on her right with Vivienne on Sera's left, Sera was talking with Simra about nothing when she decided to do something that would either get her killed by Asaaranda and Cassandra or would finally get her back in their good graces. "Hey sim what do the bones that the dalish wear in your hair even mean, I mean their pretty and shit but what did you even do to earn them?"

the tension among the group spiked in a heartbeat, Sera thought she saw a flicker of black mist rise of the herald before Simra spoke happily. [they mean different things some are for rights passed and some are for hunts that were really hard but most of Simra's is for finding things.] Simra said in her melodic voice using magic to allow Sera to understand, Sera Frowned she had finally gotten use to the magic bit but it was Sim's words that confused her.

"Wait that's it you found stuff? What kind of stuff, stuffed nugs that were lost or something like a lost child?" Simra laughed at the options and the group tension lessened as Simra had not really laughed much in the other elf's present after the fight.

[No silly sera Sim's job was finding ruins and artifacts to help the clan remember the past better, it could be really dangerous as ruins often had things in them that thought Simra was food and Simra does not think she would taste very good but they seemed to think Simra would taste very good given how much they tried to eat Simra!] at the thought of food Simra rode ahead a bit to bother Asaar about when lunch was leaving a laughing Sera, as Sera nearly fell off Vivienne gently helped her keep her seat while chuckling as well.

Blackwall stood before the farmhands he was teaching to defend themselves from the bandits giving them last minute advice, the sound of hooves beating caused him to turn and his brain stopped thinking for a moment at the sight. A large beautiful qunari women sat astride a glowing creature that appeared to be made from a skeleton of a horse encased in some kind of blue solid light, on her right rode a seeker of truth riding an undead horse with a large sword through it's skull and painted white and green with an elf on the qunari's left astride a large red hart.

"Warden blackwall?" the seeker called but before he could respond he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped his shield into place to block an arrow, he turned briefly back to the group that had grown again to tell them to help or leave as he led the farmhands into battle.

Before he or the recruits could take more than three steps a blur of lightning charged past them to crash into the bandits killing three of them on impact, the seeker followed on the lightning's tail crashing into the bandit carrying a large shield. Blackwall moved to help the two women when he saw something that made him paused in disbelief, the three that the qunari had killed got back up.

'Maker's balls how did they survive that!' he thought before he saw the wisps of black mist rising around them a moment before they attacked their former allies, not one to question much in battle Blackwall rolled with it and moved to help the undead as the group on horse back started firing arrows and spells around him. The bandits fell quickly to the group and Blackwall, after wiping clean his sword and sheathing it he turned to the horned woman who was approaching wondering what she could want.

The horned woman spoke in a language he did not speak and he was about to say so when the seeker spoke up. "She said greetings warden Blackwall my name is Asaaranda Adaar, I am here on behalf of the inquisition to ask about the whereabouts of the wardens and to find out if they have a connection to the divine's murder."

Blackwall was shocked and mad at the same time. "The wardens would never have anything to do with the divine's death!" he snapped and Adaar scowled and barked out in her strange tongue.

"Then were are they? No one has heard from the wardens of these parts in months!" the seeker translated again. Blackwall froze for a moment before he spoke again in a calmer fashion as angering this group seemed to be a fast way to die. After speaking a bit more Blackwall joined the group and they headed for the nearest camp to spend the night before heading out for the storm coast.

The next morning Leliana collected the messages from the ravens Adaar had sent, for someone who did not speak the language she had very nice penmanship and always reported very clearly. She entered the war room with the letters to discuss them with the others, Josephine looked up eagerly at her arrival chuckling lightly Leliana wordlessly handed Josie the letters for her from Simra. Leliana knew that Simra was helping Josie learn elven by having her translate letters for dalish treats which if she did not love Josie as much as she did Leliana would be stealing as Simra refused to make them for anyone else.

still Leliana was getting her revenge on Josie for not sharing by suggesting to Simra that Josie would improve faster if she was translating racier material, The meeting was quick and simple the only odd thing was that Asaaranda wanted Leliana to find everything on Blackwall possible not matter how small as something was off according to her.

To say Asaaranda was unhappy was like saying a mountain is a mole hill she hated the rain as it meant she could not use the lion's share of her magics without being very careful, the group heard the sounds off fighting and saw the mercs they to meet fighting against some cultists Adaar ordered her group to help the mercs before wreathing her self in ice armor and advancing with the seeker on her flank. Vivienne and solas were swinging their staffs in unison while Simra and Sera provided a steady counter rhythm to Varric's crossbow, Vivienne had quickly learned to follow Simra's lead in the fights as the elf had a better grasp of group fighting than she did and Vivienne was never one to put herself at a disadvantage just because of her pride.

Vivienne froze a cultist who was about to flank her soulmate like she would let that happen, she may have spoke badly to Josephine but that was because she thought it was an affair not soul bounding soulmates were another story. As the last cultist fell the merc leader called out to his second and out of the corner of her eye Vivienne saw black mist wrap around Asaaranda before she let out a roar of pure hate, Vivienne and the rest of the group including the seeker watched in horror as the herald charged the merc leader.

Ironbull heard a qunari scream of rage and hate making him turn quickly, what he saw made him drop into a combat state knowing there would be no choice but to fight from the blood red colour of the woman's eyes as she charged him. He brought his weapon's shaft up to parry the sword blow then side stepped the dagger thrust, as she twisted to strike again Bull realized why she was trying to kill him. This was the former Ben-Hassrath who had become a Saarebas, the very one he had ratted out to the other Ben-Hassrath when he found out she had been hiding her magic. He stumbled on a corpse making him trip, it saved his life by making a cut that would have taken his head off miss but it now left him vulnerable to her next swing.

{Katoh Kadan please don't you saved him, don't kill him now or we must fight his group as well!} a female voice yelled out and Bull would have laughed nothing but a soulmate could bring a qunari out of the blood rage, which is why when the woman lowered her sword and dagger he was shocked and even more shocked when she spoke.

{You owe your life to my Kadan Hissrad!} She snarled before turning and stalking to the seeker's side.

After a tense talk that ended with Adaar threating to do things to Bull that would not be possible but swearing she would make them work the chargers were hired, they group headed back to the camp to rest up and organize for the trip hope. When they reached the camp Bull made introductions of his main crew to the inquisition crew, when he was about to reach Dalish and Skinner he glanced around looking for them.

"Krem where are Dalish and Skinner, what are they doing." He called to his second, there was a rustling of bushes and a pair of elves appeared from them. "Here and each other!" Snarked dalish but before anyone could some much as blink there was a loud squeal and Simra flew through the air to crash into Dalish speaking in rapid fire elven that left everyone minus Solas and Asaaranda along with skinner confused.

[Ma Falon! Where have you been I thought you died when the clan was attacked, do you still have my old bow I would love to have it back if you do. Is this skinner your soulmate?] Asaaranda laughed and grabbed Simra by the neck and lifted her gently off the shocked elf woman.

Simra dalish and Skinner caught each other up and revealed that Skinner had been the one to save Dalish and that was how they bonded as soulmates. Bull sat next to Asaaranda who and Cassandra sitting in her lap, she tensed up and Bull did not blame her one bit.

{Asaaranda I know you will not probably believe me but I did not want to turn you in but I had to.}

{I don't blame you for that what I blame you was it was you who suggested my handler who abused me in ways the qun does not allow.} Bull bowed his head at that he was ashamed of that it was his first failing of those in his care and still remain the one he felt the most guilt over.

{I know what he did never came to light until after you escaped, and the bastard ran from the qun when he found out he would be brought to the Ben-Hassrath. But he made the mistake of fleeing through Orlais and I caught up with him and even though I was ordered to sent him back alive I sent him back in a crate full of the small pieces that were left, I know that does nothing to make up for it but I the reason I suggested him was he had always be kind towards me and you and I wanted you to be given to a kind master.}

{Thank you for that Bull I had always thought that you hated me for lying about my magic and that was why you gave me to him.} {Never you were my best friend back then and I would never have given you up but I knew that if someone else found you before I turned you in I would not be able to lessen your punishment.}

{Thank you for that, I may take some time and work but I would like to be friends again Bull.} Bull smiled {Sure no problem boss, I will let you get back to feeling up the seeker!} he said smirking as the seeker flushed scarlet and Asaaranda chuckled, before moving off ending the talk on a good note.


	13. Chapter 13 a talk be with the bull

Chapter 13: talks are had.

Chapter Text

CH.13 the chargers arrive

Josephine stood at the entrance to the chantry waiting for the herald's party to arrive, the herald had written that she had acquired a group of mercenaries that had sworn loyalty to her after she killed the man who had ordered them to attack the scouts of the inquisition along with those she also hired the bull's chargers. She sent them a report mentioning that relationship she had with the leader and how they were to watch him carefully but allow him his freedom, Josie had also received a cryptic letter from her soulmate stating she had found things she long thought lost and could not wait to show them to Josie.

The sight of the herald's team approaching the chantry with four others with them made Josie wonder just how many people the herald's new hires needed to meet with the councillors.

{Ma Vhenan!} Came an excited cry before Josie was tackled by a short ball of elven energy who caught Josie in her strong arms to prevent her from falling. {Did you miss Simra Ma Vhenan? Simra missed you, it was raining the entire time which made Asaaranda grumpy and that made Simra sad until we found the chargers!}

Josie laughed lightly at her excitable mate her elven had improved enough that even without the magic Josie would have understood most of that, a laugh that was accented with the same as her soulmate had Josephine looking up and freezing. Standing there with one arm wrapped around the shoulders of another elf was a dalish elf who was clearly related to Simra and by the loving look on the woman's face as she watched Simra it was a close relation, remembering her manners Josephine dipped into a curtsey after detangling herself from her mate.

"Greeting I am ambassador Josephine Montilyet and you clearly have already met my soulmate Simra Lavellan." she said with a slight curtsy

"Hey name's the iron bull, captain of the Bull's chargers this guy over here is Krem my right hand and the elves over there are Dalish and Skinner they came to meet you."

Josephine was confused and decided to ask while Simra once again wrapped her arms around Josephine's waist from behind. "I am sorry is there a reason they need to met with me so soon?"

"Call it being an overprotective family member, I just wanted to make sure that Simra's soulmate was really a good person and I dragged Skinner here with me as if you turned out to be a good person then you should meet my soulmate as well." Dalish said with a smirk while Simra whined that she was fine and that saying things like that would only upset Josie.

"I am sorry but I was under the impression that Simra was orphaned?"

"She was we were separated when our clan was attack, I escaped but Simra did not. I had tried to go back for her but I found nothing but her staff and a large pool of blood making me believe she was dead and by the time I reached there the slavers had already gotten too far to track." Dalish said looking sad and Josephine wrapped the woman in a hug much to the shock of the woman and her soulmate.

"I am sorry you had to deal with that, but I swear to you I love Simra and will do everything to make her happy. Also you and your mate are welcome among my family anytime as family of Simra's is my family as well." Josephine said solemnly and out of the corner of her eye saw Asaaranda smile at her while nodding.

Dalish and Skinner left shortly after to let the chief and Krem talk with the heads of the inquisition, the pair wandered towards the tavern wondering at what just happened, Dalish had been told the human her cousin was mated to was nice but opening her home to them and even comforting Dalish was not something they had expected.

"Well Simra certainly seemed happy with the ambassador." Dalish said as they entered the tavern, the pair saw the other chargers lounging at a group of tables nursing some drinks while waiting for the paperwork to sort out before setting up the camp. Skinner laughed and joked.

"No I would never have guessed by the way the girl was pawing at the noble, but did you see how the noble looked at her."

"Who looked at who?" Rocky cut in as he signalled for drinks for the elven pair.

"My cousin's soulmate looked at my cousin with so much love it was tooth rotting sweet." Dalish joked as the drinks arrived and the banter turned to other topics.

Cassandra and Simra walked into the tavern to get something to eat while their soulmates were busy, Asaaranda was busy mixing a new batch of Vitaar and did not want Cassandra risking getting sick or dying from it while Josephine was in a late meeting with a noble that was demanding a room closer to the herald than his rival.

"Seeker, Vines! Come drink with us!" came a loud bellow from the corner of the tavern making the women look over and see Iron bull waving at them, they nodded and quickly place their orders before moving off to sit with the large qunari who was already sitting with the chargers that had been at the chantry earlier and Varric.

"So seeker tell me is Adaar as good in the sack as she was under the qun?" Bull asked bluntly making everyone including Cassandra and Simra choke on their drinks.

"WHAT!" Seeker nearly yelled turning red but whether it was from embarrassment or anger was a toss up.

"Wait tiny are you saying that you and Sparks once were lovers?" Varric asked shocked while Simra looked like she was debating killing Bull for daring to touch her Asaaranda.

{The iron Bull better be joking or Simra is going to castrate the Iron bull for that, Asaaranda is a good person and you betrayed her so if the iron bull was making love to Asaaranda and still betrayed her Simra is going to make the iron Bull into the Iron Steer!} Simra growled with her magic gathering and the table started sprouting twigs, the entire table froze while it had started as a joke it was now very clear jokes that might be challenging Asaaranda's honour would be off the table anytime Simra was in ear shot.

Simra was very protective of her leader and while she understood that Asaaranda had one night stands and she was fine with that but if someone hurt her then Simra would kill them in the most painful fashion possible.

"Easy vines, Asaaranda just had a very casual sexual relationship that end on good terms two months before hand." Bull said slowly shifting his body encase it became needed for him to leave quickly.

{Sit!} Simra growled and Bull sat back down at the tone. {Explain how she was made into one of your chained mages, and keep in mind if you lie or I don't like your answer boss of Kara or not I will kill you and the seeker will help.} Cassandra nodded face grim, while the others at the table looked like they wanted to run but were too afraid except for Varric who like the others was glaring at Bull.

"Bull even if the seeker does not help her I will, I helped Blondie treat her when we freed her and those wounds were bad if it was not for blonde's skill in healing she would still be blind in one eye!" Varric snarled laying a hand on Bianca.

The Iron Bull smiled on the inside while keeping his face blank, he had hoped Asaaranda would find good friends and a good mate and it seemed she did.

"All right I will tell you how it all went down." Iron bull said and took a drink from his mug and got a face full of twigs reminding him that he was dealing with a very powerful mage.

"Adaar and I were friends under the qun while training in the basics of the Ben-Hassrath but we drifted apart when we started training in different things, we had been fooling around before but when she entered the other training she requested we stop and I agreed as we both needed to focus on our own training. Looking back that may have also been when she first developed magic and broke it off to hide her magic better, anyway a few months later I was sent to get something from the section Adaar worked in and when I opened the door I found her there surrounded by this black mist the was swirling around her." Bull looked at Simra at this point to try and gauge her but was met with a blank face, clearly Adaar had been teaching the kid.

"So Adaar just calmly banishes that mist and turns to me and asks 'what will you do now?' and I had no idea what to do and I told her that I would do what I must. After that I thought for a long time and then I decided to turn her in, the plan was that by turning her in I could suggest a trainer for her and it worked to." At this point Iron Bull took another drink trying and failing to hold back his feelings of guilt that now played across his face.

"That is where it all went to shit, I picked the trainer that was the kindest that I could find and who I knew favoured Adaar. What no one knew was that this guy was an abusive fuck who had been abusing his mages for fun and to take out his sexual frustrations towards adaar on them, by handing him Adaar her got his most twisted wish in that he could fuck her any time he wanted and she could do nothing about!"

Iron Bull slammed his drink down on the table hard as he all but growled the last few words. "Later when she escaped the truth about what he had been doing to the mages got out and we may be harsh to our mages but we still honour them as they know their place in the Qun, that is way Adaar did not run or resist when they chained her. The bastard made the mistake of running away and got too close to my chargers and we caught him, I was suppose to ship him back and I did but they wanted him in one piece and I sent him back in tiny pieces as revenge for Adaar." Bull finished his drink off and looked into the eyes of Simra.

"And that is the story of my greatest failure, and the one thing I will never stop trying to atone for." Krem and the other chargers cut in.

"Yeah Sim I was the second when the chief went after the guy he pulled us off a high profile job to nab the guy and that guy took four days to die, so go easy on the but moron he usually means well."

Simra nodded as she thought and looked into the eye of the large qunari before speak. {All right the Iron Bull Simra will give you a chance but hurt Asaaranda again and you will take a month to die.} with that she simply moved on as if they never had the talk and began asking her cousin for stories about some of her missions. Cassandra simply nodded as did Varric and the group relaxed and began too relax, outside the gates a message arrived with an offer from the grand enchanter at the gates.


	14. Chapter 14 Redcliffe first visit

Chapter 14: Redcliffe First Visit

Chapter Text

CH.14 Redcliffe First Visit

Asaaranda knew something was very wrong when the mages did not know that they had been coming, the messenger had vanished almost as so as they delivered the message to the advisors. Now Asaaranda stood at the entrance to the bar and looking at her group to ensure that they were ready, while she had traveled down with her inner circle the only ones coming into the bar with her was Simra, Vivienne and Cassandra the others remained outside the village in case the whole thing was a trap. The group entered the bar and was quickly confronted by the grand enchanter.

"I do not know why you have come the free mages have already pledged ourselves to Tevinter." As soon as the words left the woman's mouth Simra let out a yell that made every person turn to look at Simra started yelling in elven loudly and those who spoke even just a few words of it got the general gist of it.

{What is she saying?} Cassandra asked Adaar using the Qunlat to hide what was being said.

{Nothing that you would ever expect to come out of her mouth every third word is a curse basically at this point.} When Asaaranda started talking Simra quieted down to listen and still grumbling moved to hide behind the large woman not liking the attention she was now getting.

When the Tevinter mage leader arrived Asaaranda glared at the man hating his arrogant manner. "Please sit and let us discuss the terms of loaning you my mages." Magister Alexius spoke with a snake oil salesman smile.

Asaaranda snarled baring her sharp canines as the man before speaking not bothering to allow him to understand. {I may have fled the qun but Seheron will be buried in a mountain of ice before I ever work with the imperium!} With that she turned at started to leave with Cassandra providing the translation. Felix the magister's son started to stumble into Asaaranda only to have his throat seized by Simra who wore a mask of burning hot fury, Simra dropped the man who stumbled hand brushing hers and the group left as Alexius ran to tend to his son.

Wordlessly Simra hand the note to Asaaranda and the group read it before signaling to the team outside to join them and head for the chantry.

"My dear if you hate the imperium why are we going?" Vivienne asked as they grabbed the others and headed for the chantry, Adaar looked at her before suffusing her voice with magic and speaking low.

{Knowing that we can't trust them means that we need every bit of information we can get before striking at them.}

"Hold on Sparks what do you mean striking at them?" Varric asked sounding worried.

{Just what I said that magister is not leaving this country alive I am going to see to that and if we get the mages in the aftermath good if not then we approach the Tal-valsoth or dalish for help.}

"Not the Templars?" Cassandra asked confused, Simra shook her head and spoke.

{We do not trust the Templars not matter what Kitty says they will try to chain us, both Asaara and Simra have been chained before and have met many mages from the towers and heard what they said.} Cassandra looked like she as about to argue when Varric piped up.

"Easy Seeker Sparks and Vines don't think mages should run free but rather that a group made up like the elven fade hunters of old." At this Vivienne joined the talks as they neared the chantry.

"What are the Fade hunters? I have never heard of them." she asked thinking about what she might learn here.

Bull spoke up at this point as he remembered a talk he had with Adaar before under the qun. "They were a group of demon and corrupted mage hunters who had both mages and those trained to fight mages but not like Templars more like the qun's anit mage fighters right?"

He directed the last statement at Simra who nodded and Asaaranda silenced the talks and ordered them into position before opening the doors. Inside the chantry they found a mage fighting demons with just his staff, he turned at yelled at them to help and both Simra along with Asaaranda tensed as they heard the accent before hurling themselves into battle both with melee magics. Vivienne and the others stopped at what was unfolding before them even the human male mage backed off, Simra and Asaaranda dance around each other like water as Simra's spectral blade flashed whistling in an eerie whistle accompanying the buzzing hum that came from Adaar's lightning wrapped blades and armor.

The group only watched as what looked more like a dance than battle took place in a hoard of demons, the pair seemed to know where the other would be even before the other moved proven when Simra leapt into the air curling into a ball in the air as Adaar rolled her back down so that when Simra landed on it she could use it as a spring board to attack the frost demon hanging in the air.

The last demon fell with a shriek as the last of the energy flowed back into the rift Adaar slammed it closed. "Fascinating how does that work? You don't know do you just wave your hand and boom rift closes!" the human said as he approached, Asaaranda held her sword level with his throat.

{Name and intentions first or lose you head vint!} When the mage received the translation he smiled and said happily.

"Terribly sorry getting ahead of myself! Dorian Pavus formerly of Minrathous!" He said with a grandiose bow but before anyone could say anything a shriek of pure hate and fury was ripped from Simra's mouth as she wrapped herself in poison green aura with spectral blade drawn charged the mage.

Cassandra and Adaar reacted at the same time grabbing Simra pinning her between the pair as she shrieked at them cursing them.

{KHATOH SIMRA!} Adaar roared in the small elf's ear and that made her break out of her blood rage, but she was still fuming and her eyes were still glowing but her magic was no longer leaking out.

{Let Simra go Asaara that man needs to die he took Simra's family from Simra he killed my clan and I want his head!} She yelled before starting to struggle again but a firm wrap on her head made her stop.

{Explain clearly Sim I can't let you kill him yet unless he is unless but I need to know why you want this man dead, how did he kill your clan we killed all the slavers?}

{The Pavus house were the ones who ordered the slave run and they are the reason why Simra was 'Trained!' on the ship I was to be given to the son!} at this reveal the tension went up for all those who spoke Qunlat and when Cassandra translated for the group Dorian paled.

Dorian had not understood a word of what was being yelled between the qunari and elf but he knew it was about him and he did not think it was what fruit basket they were going to give him, when he heard the translation he paled as he remembered his father fuming about the shipment of slaves being lost and then had reveal that they had ordered the youngest mage to be caught as a body slave for him.

"That was my father and trust me I would never have touched her if she had mad the trip, I would never rape anyone slave or not!" the qunari growled something else.

"She said that you are hiding something about why you would not touch her and she wants to know it now or Simra is free to take her rage out on you." The armored woman snarled looking a second away from killing him herself.

"Fine I prefer men's company not women's!" Dorian snapped at the group and that made the elf stop struggling for a moment before bursting out laughing and that confused the entire group until she stammered out something in Qunlat that had the two qunari laughing.

"What the shite is so funny?" the other female elf snapped and the dwarf spoke.

"Vines said something along the lines that she can't kill him now as the biggest blow she could strike at his father is by helping him flaunt his man hunting to upset the father!" the dwarf said snickering, Then the blond elf started laughing as well.

Simra calmed down enough that Adaar let her down and she walked over to the young man, lacing her voice with magic she spoke. [listen well shem I like you for right know but I ever find out that you had anything to do with making unwilling slave or treating them cruelly I will personal chain and gag you and drop you in the cruelest whore house Simra knows! You understand Simra?]

Dorian nodded and the group moved to discuss the reason for the note as Felix walked in. by the time the group left Dorian stopped flinching whenever Simra moved and Simra had quickly come to enjoy the man's humor but was still willing to glare at him for any mention that there might be anything good about his homeland. The group headed back to haven sending a crow ahead telling the advisor to start planning an attack on the castle, they stopped only to pick up the new recruits including the tranquil they could find.


	15. Chapter 15 Redcliffe disaster

Chapter 15: Redcliffe Disaster

Notes:

Sorry for just how short this chapter but it is needed to set the next chapter up, can't build the tension i want if it is longer. But fear not it will have the next part out soon. ;)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

CH.15 Disaster in Redcliffe

The party of the herald's followers rode through the gates of the castle looking at the red stone the walls were crafted from, Simra felt more tense than her bow at full draw, and she hated this feeling Simra could feel something bad was about to happen.  
[Simra does not like this Harel please say the Simra can take Asaaranda from here! Simra can't lose Asaaranda too, please I can feel that something bad is going to happen.] Simra whimpered to Asaaranda from her hunched spot astride her Hart, Asaaranda smiled warmly before kissing Simra on the top of her head.

[Ir abelas Ma Dalen but we must see this through, now come the faster this is done the faster we can leave and you may return to your Vhenan's side.] Asaaranda said winking at Simra, the pair missed the frown the passed over the seeker's face when she saw the kiss and wink.

"The invitation was for lady Adaar only." The man servant of the magister said snidely to the group standing in front of him, he watched the herald snarl in her crude tongue to the woman standing next to her.

"She said that I am her soul mate, Simra is her right hand and madam de Fer is our mage advisor while the dwarf is her bodyguard so where she goes we go!" the woman snarled at him and the man paled at the glare he was being given and relented, not wanting to be the one to tell the master that his guest left before the trap could be sprung.

The group entered the throne room to find the magister lounging on the throne, Adaar nodded to the man, Alexius just grinned at them, not even bothering to rise from the throne to greet them. Cassandra glared at the Magister while he made a small speech and tensed when the son stepped in.

"They know father its over just give up." Felix begged his father, Alexius glared at his son, the herald's team began easing their weapons out their holders.

"What have you done Felix?" the magister demanded of his son, the mage Dorian chose that moment to exit the shadows and enter the argument, Cassandra saw Simra and Asaaranda tense up as the mage stepped forward.

"This is exactly what we talked about Alexius! You sound as mad as the fools we mocked once, what happened to you that you can't see this?" Dorian pleaded with the man now standing front of the throne, Alexius turned not to Dorian but to his son with sorrow in his eyes.

"The elder one can save you Felix." Felix just sighed shaking his head, "I am going to die father you need to accept this." Alexius shook his head violently before ordering his forces to attack, instead of his forces appearing out of the shadow the spies of the inquisition appeared instead.

"NO! I will not fail, you are a mistake and one I will correct now!" The magister snarled at Adaar before pulling out an amulet that glowed green, before anyone could do more then shout, Doran whipped a bolt of power from his staff as he moved to cover the herald.  
There was a blinding flash of light accompanied by Cassandra screaming in pain as, her mark burning like a branding iron, she dropped to her knees. When the light cleared only a charred spot remained where Adaar and Dorian had been, Simra howled like a wounded beast before dropping to the floor sobbing over the charred patch on the floor.

Notes:

Translation: Ir abelas Ma Dalen means: I am sorry my child.  
Vhenan means Heart


	16. Chapter 16 Into the Future

Warning this is a FUCKING ANGST heavy chapter!

I am sorry this is as dark as it gets for some time the next chapter will not be as dark! there will be tooth rotting Fluff and Smut to come but we first must endure the pain, only when we have had our hearts ripped out will the fluff come and it will be greater for the pain. Writing this hurt me just as much as reading it will hurt you. :(

CH.16 Into the Future.

Dorian groaned as he rose from the pool of water he was half laying to what sounded like two grown men screaming in fear, turning to face the source of the noise he most certainly did not scream like a little girl and nearly faint! The herald that he had barely even spoken to was busy killing two cultist fighters while covered head to toe in bright blue flames, he honestly could not blame the other men for screaming as being attacked by an angry qunari was scary enough as it was but one that was on fire only made it worse.

{If you are down with your nap, help me look for a key.} The herald rumbled and Dorian stared blankly at her, she repeated herself or at least that what is sounded like.

"Sorry my dear but I don't speak Qunlat." Dorian apologized to the woman, Adaar growled and this time Dorian understood.

{Hurry up and find the key!} Dorian jumped to obey, it was always wise to obey the large and angry women in your life.

A year! A whole fucking year, needless to say Asaaranda was pissed and worried about her soulmate and Simra, the grand enchanter had said that most of her traveling companions where held in the other wing on the current floor. When they entered the cells what they held Dorian losing his lunch in the corner and Asaaranda looking desperately for Cassandra, as when they entered they found what was clearly Bianca covered in red lyrium and a large growth that almost appeared to be reaching for the crossbow with a Dwarven skull encased within it. they found the remains of Vivienne who appeared to have cut her own throat with chipped red lyrium, the sounds of muttered prayers had Asaaranda running to the farthest cell.

There in the cell on her knees with no current signs of red lyrium poisoning was her soulmate, falling to her knees Asaara quickly picked the lock and opened the cell making Cassandra look up. As she locked eyes with Cassandra Asaara fought to stop herself from turning away in horror as the red glow her eyes and veins had taken.

{I knew you were back I felt the mark burn again, the void became filled and now I wish it had not.} came the pained whisper as Cassandra turned away crying crimson tears.

{My Ataashi you have nothing to cry over I was sent to this time so there must be a way back to the past to stop this!} Asaaranda pleaded with her soulmate, Cassandra rose stiffly but with fire in her eyes once more.

{Come then we should hurry then come on there is three more who should still be able to fight!} Cassandra croaked out her voice sounding like grinding glass, Dorian asked what happened to Simra and Cassandra only shook her head. "You don't want to know trust me." And that was all they could pry out of her.

Taeris Mahariel felt the lash rock his body making his legs swing in the air, the dungeon guard swung the lash again with the air whistling with the force and sped before ending in a sharp crack as it struck his bare chest. He felt a hand seize his face roughly and he was forced to look at the large shem through the haze of the magic suppressing collar around his throat.

"How did your ships know to hit that shipment!?" the guard roared at him, Taeris only spat in his face before smirking coldly at him.

"Fred when did you get here I was having a great nap." Taeris asked mockingly, a savage right hook had him spitting blood out of his mouth as his lip split, Taeris just sneered at the man. "Come on Fred my wife hits harder in bed, get Sam in here she hits just as weak but at least she is easy on the eyes."

The guard snarled at him taking a step back to hit him with his full weight, the sound of the cell crashing open made the fat man turn towards the door. Seizing his chance Taeris swung his legs up and grabbed the man's head between his thighs. Wrenching his body one way then another violently made the guards body twist and give a very satisfying snapping sound as the man's neck snapped.

"Hey seeker fancy seeing you here! Mind letting us down, I have been needing to scratch between my shoulders for an hour now!" the voice of his sister floated to his ears from around the corner shortly followed by the sounds of chains releasing and his sister Selva thanking the seeker.

Twin skipped over to him and with a quick spell shattered his chains and collar, the sudden rush of power made him stagger as his magic came rushing back, all the commotion caused a fearful whimper from the room's other prisoner. Taeris scowled feeling sick at the sight he saw when he turned around to look in the corner where they kept her, there curled in a ball was the once proud Simra, or so he had been told as she had already been broken by the time Taeris and Selva had been captured. The poor girl had been here for year now and it showed, her ears were docked to near stubs with and that was the kindest thing they had done to her.

* * *

Asaaranda heard the whimper and focused in on it and what she saw nearly made her throw up on sight, there curled up in a filthy and bloody ball was the woman she viewed as her most cherished daughter. The ball stirred at the sound of Asaaranda choking back her tears, the ball unfurled bit and the head came up and Adaar desperately wished it had not.

[Asaara is that you, Simra hurts so much,] came the hoarse whimper as her head looked around as if she still had eyes no just a tight bandage covering the spot where they should be.

{I am here my little Simra, I am here now.} she said gently as she gathered the wounded elf in her arms, the elf clung to her with a desperate fear.

[Please make the pain stop, Simra is in pain and Simra is afraid of the dark remember please don't leave Simra in the dark anymore!] the broken sound that had once been a beautiful lyric voice broke Asaaranda's heart, she felt fingers grip her shoulders and realized with horror that her bow fingers were gone.

[Don't worry ma Dalen I am here I will be by your side until you sleep again.] Asaaranda whispered the words she said whenever Simra had nightmares, she hummed an elven lullaby rocking her daughter gently.

Asaaranda spread her magic soothingly over Simra and slowly drew out the knife she had taken off a guard earlier, numbing the area around her daughter's ribs with magic she slides the knife gently into her daughter as tears streamed down the face of everyone in the room. She sang gently until Simra passed and Adaar laid her gently down on the floor before covering her, the elven pair came to the now dead woman's side and sang gently the song of parting for her as they arranged the body in the old fashion, when they rose everyone in the room felt the darkness coiling around the pair who were know as the heroes Ferelden.

"Come we need to find my Vhenan and then bring an end to the bastard that did this to one of our people!" Snarled the woman, the pair's eyes were glowing with magic as wisps of power wrapped around them making their azure blue eyes glow with a malevolent light.


	17. Chapter 17 Pirates and the Bard

CH.16 Fear the Pirates and Their Bard.

Asaaranda followed the elven pair through the corridors, the pair had cut their manes of golden hair to shoulder length after they retrieved their matching pair elven swords and shields, the twins still glowed with magic very similar to how Adaar herself used magic. The difference was that their magic just enforced from within while Adaar enforced from outside in, the female of the pair eyes was burning with a hate and fury that even scared Adaar. They finally reached the last prisoner torture chamber when they heard voice from within.

* * *

Leliana hung from the ceiling glaring at the man who wielded the knife like a fool, the man struck her again and opened his mouth to speak again when the door to the cell exploded from the force of the elven woman charging through the door. The man was throw to the floor and stomped on by her soulmate, Leliana glanced to the entrance while her soulmate continued to stomp on and curse at the man who Leliana was sure was dead by now.

"Selva as much as I agree with your feelings beating a dead horse does nothing but tire you, save it for the bastard who caused this." The sarcastic drawl of Taeris made Leliana smirk at how little over a half year in a torture chamber changed the caustic mage.

"Leliana your alive! At least something is going right." Leliana looked at the haunted look in the herald's eyes and knew that she must have found Simra, Leliana had only seen the poor elf once when she was first captured but even that had been enough to make her sick.

"Sorry luv, got carried away being your dashing rouge who came to save her wife's booty!" the words came with a grope to said booty before the elf purred into her ear. "And what a fine booty it is." A snarl from the herald made them break apart.

"Taeris I am so sorry, I tried to save her." Leliana spoke gently while taking the harsh elf in her arms and for a moment Taeris stiffened before clinging to her as tears fell silently as the man grieved for her lost soulmate.

After a moment Taeris straightened before nodding and moving away as if he had not just cried, Leliana smiled sadly at how little the man had changed, her soulmate handed her a bow and quiver with a quick kiss before moving to stand by her side. Asaaranda signaled the group to move out and the three warriors moved to take point the elves flanking the seeker, the group fought their way through the cultists and demons, Leliana's soulmate and her brother were a matching pair of fury made flesh demons as they tore through anything that was not their group.

"Ah this brings back memories, just a small group against impossible odds, makes me all warm and fuzzy." Selva sighed as blood sprayed like a fountain over her front as her removed the head from another cultist.

"The fact that the blight brings back warm feelings for you has me concerned Vhenan." Leliana remarked dryly as she speared another demon in the eye with an arrow.

"Hey we agreed that you are a good person and agreed that you are the light to my shadows, besides our hottest sex came far killing the assassins sent after you remember!" Cassandra choked and stumbled nearing tripping on the cultist she had just killed when she heard that, while Leliana blushed and Dorian laughed.

* * *

"Dorian if you have the amulet you can get us back right? we don't need that rat bastard correct?" Asaaranda asked as she moved towards the door to place the final key within the door.

"Yes I suppose but he might be able to be convinced to give it up, it is worth a …" Dorian trailed off at the cold look Asaaranda gave him, there would be no talking just the bastard's death.

The moment the door opened Asaaranda wrapped herself in lightning so powerful that instead of time slowing like normal it simply stopped cold, she blurred across the room barely pausing to removed the ghoul's head before turning and doing the same to Alexius. Time snapped back too normal and the body crumpled to the ground while Asaaranda simply grabbed the amulet off the stump where the head had once sat, Dorian stared in horror at the casual display of brutality before Asaaranda shoved the amulet into his hands and barked an order at him to get a move on.

Dorian began working the magic to create the portal needed when the castle shook, the former prisoners looked at each other, in a flash Selva had snagged quill and paper from a nearby desk and began writing furiously while the others readied their weapons. They explained the elder one was coming and that they would hold them for as long at they could but they had to leave soon, Selva shoved something into the hands of Adaar.

"Give this to Leliana in the past, she will know what to do with it and what it means! Now go!" With that Selva shoved Adaar back towards Dorian.

Dorian spared a glance at the departing group, each one of them left except Cassandra who stood guard at the door. The doors clanged shut like those of a tomb, the sounds of fighting grew louder as did a curious sound, someone was singing and it was a sad lullaby that Dorian recognized as the song Adaar had been singing to Simra in the cells. the doors clashed open a few moments after the singing stopped and a large pair of demons headed by cultists entered, in the hands of the large demons were the bodies of the elven pair and the bard who they dropped to engage the seeker. Dorian just finished the portal as the seeker was about to be surrounded and he pulled the herald through a brief second before the seeker fell to the claws of a demon.

* * *

"How about a song for old times sake?" Taeris remarked as he readied his sword and shield, his sister nodded and Leliana smiled gently.

"Yeah always said I wanted to go out with a pretty bard singing for me, always thought it would be for my skills in bed but this works to!" Selva said winking at her soulmate, she looked happy but Leliana knew that was just a mask hiding the tears that wanted to fall.

Nodding leliana began singing gently at first but grew louder as the demons approached and the elven pair charged the hoard, Selva spun whipping her shield into the face of a demon quickly followed by her brother's sword. Leliana shots sang out as a counter point to the rhythm that the elves were dancing with their swords to, the bow sang but it was clear the concert of battle was missing a key part, the whipping crack of a staff wielded by the wilds Spell mistress who Leliana hoped was at the maker's side now.

Soon despite how many the pair of mages cut down they were over whelmed and Leliana felt her soulmark that run along her under breast as if the words were cupping them seared with burning pain as Selva's heart beat its final beat a mere breath before her brother joined her, Leliana tried to hold out a few moments longer but the pain of the soulmark searing her chest was too much and soon a demon's large claw slid under her chest armor and pierced her heart killing her.

* * *

Cassandra's soulmark continued to burn as Simra screamed while the inquisition force stared in horror at the spot where the herald once stood, they her mark stopped burning making her look up as a bright green vortex appeared by the throne and out stepped like a demon descending on its victim was her soulmate, bloodied but alive and by the look on her face consumed in rage. Before Alexius could even speak a single word his head flew of his shoulders as a sword left a trail of sparks in the air, Asaaranda simply spat on the corpse before turning to scan the room. Cassandra watched her soulmates eye connect with hers and then pass her over looking for someone else, Asaaranda's face lit up upon finding Simra and wrapped in lightning she was across the room seizing the small elf in a tight hug.

{I am so sorry, so sorry.} came the broken whisper as Asaaranda cried into the shoulder of the elf she clung to with a desperation born of some kind of fear.

Cassandra felt pain at the scene of the two embracing, she had not known Asaaranda as long it was true but should one not seek her soulmate first not another? Cassandra retreated in her mind and shell as she stewed over what she had just seen, she moved out of Adaar's reach when the queen arrived and Adaar recruited the mages under the agreement that they will be governed but not prisoners, they would have a say in what happened to them but a council of both mages and Templars would be made to manage the mages.

That night they stayed at the castle on the queen's wishes Adaar cornered her in their rooms, she had been avoiding her all day trying to understand why she felt the way she did. Asaaranda simply closed the door and with a wave of her hand placed wards of repulsion and silence over the entire room to prevent anyone for hearing them.

{My Ataashi why have you been avoiding me?} Asaaranda sounded hurt and Cassandra felt guilt until she remembered Simra and the events in the throne room.

{I simply thought is would not get in the way of you and Simra, as the novelty of a human has clearly worn off.} she knew she was being petty but she did not care.

{What are you talking about Kadan?} Asaaranda tried to embrace her but Cassandra slapped her way and stalked to the other side of the room.

{You passed me over for her in the throne room! I am your soulmate but you ignored me in front of everyone! I am supposed to be the one you turn to with your tears not her!} Asaaranda looked confused for a moment before she sat on the bed and place her head in her hands.

{In the future we found Simra and they had tortured her so badly that she was blind ear docked and bow fingers removed, and I killed her it was a mercy… at least that is what I keep telling myself but I don't know anymore.} Cassandra barely heard the whisper but it hit her in the gut like a golem, of course Asaaranda would cling to Simra if she had just killed her own adoptive daughter.

{I am so sorry Asaaranda I did not know, I thought that you loved her more than me. My soulmark had been searing then you were back but instead of coming to me you went to another; I am sorry for not understanding sooner.} Cassandra whispered as she fell to her knees in front of the woman wrapping her in a tight embrace, that the woman returned clinging to her much like she did Simra.

{I am sorry as well Ataashi, I should have told you what happened sooner. Come please help me forget that nightmare.} Asaaranda begged and Cassandra just kissed her as an answer, the pair fell back on to their bed to comfort each other and to help the other forget the events of the day.

* * *

A raven landed on the ledge where Leliana stood watching the stars and thinking about her lover, the raven lightly peaked her hand getting her attention before presenting back to show the tube strapped there. Leliana opened the tube and inside was a pair of letters the first was from the herald with a simple message, 'traveled to the future and was given this by your soulmate, full report to follow soon.' clearly written in a hurry but unmistakeably her soulmate's spikey slanting writing. The letter was quick and written in the short hand of the pirates that Selva had sailed with for years, Leliana smiled at what was in the letter, the letter was more an instruction set for curing the taint and where to find her at the current moment. Leliana rushed to go copy the letter and order her scouts to ready a raven to send a message, with luck her soulmate could arrive in just a few short weeks to help with this disaster.


	18. Chapter 18 To the Breach

CH.17 to the mountain top.

It was a quiet night as the group made their way back haven, the mages had gone ahead of the group while they remained to deal with tracking down some artifacts and other items that had come up. Cassandra was sleeping peacefully in Asaaranda's arms, bare as Asaaranda had simply used a quick spell to clean them after their loving making, the silence of the night was shattered by an ear piercing scream that had both Cassandra and Asaaranda up and flying out of their tent. Cassandra paused to grab her sword and shield but Asaaranda ran straight for Simra's tent in nothing but her under clothes, Cassandra followed and noticed the ground was starting to shake and the plants around the tent started to writhe.

Cassandra burst into the tent in time to see Asaaranda throw herself at Simra ignoring the thorn covered vine lashing around the thrashing elf, Cassandra realized that the plants being controlled by Simra who at the moment was trapped in a nightmare by the looks of things, Asaaranda started to cup the thrashing elf's face speaking with the voice she used on the battle field.

{Wake up now! Simra center yourself! You are free no chains bind you!} at the qunari's words Simra started to calm and came awake before throwing herself into the large woman's arms.

Cassandra watched for a moment before grabbing a robe to cover herself and exited the tent, when she stepped out she saw the others about to try and enter so she shook her head and quietly ordered them away. After ensuring the group would not attempt to enter the tent or disturb the pair within she enter the tent once more, when Cassandra approached the pair she heard Asaaranda singing a lullaby that Cassandra had heard many time traveling with leliana. Cassandra simply moved and sat next to Asaaranda on the bed where Simra was curled up on the larger woman's lap, a few nights ago she might have been jealous but now she saw that even if the pair loved each other it was the love of a parent and child and nothing more.

Simra rode beside Cassandra very subdued, last night was the first time in months that Simra had a night terror, she had hoped that she was finally over them but it was not to be. Simra kept glancing at Cassandra shyly trying to figure out if she was disappointed in Simra for being afraid as the Seeker was not afraid of anything at least not than Simra had seen, finally Cassandra sighed deeply before turned to Simra and Simra froze under her gaze like a startled fear.

{What is wrong Simra you have been very quiet, something that I have never thought was possible for you.} Simra felt a flush of shame at until she saw the slight smirk.

{N-Nothing Simra is just thinking.} She lied looking away not wanting to admit to her fears.

{Simra I can not help if you don't tell what is the matter, you have been watching me since this morning.} Cassandra sounded annoyed and Simra felt bad for making her Seeker mother upset.

{Simra is scared that you are disappointed in Simra for having nightmares.} Came the meek reply, Simra saw the Seeker's eyebrow rush to met her hair line.

{why would I me disappointed?} the confusion confused Simra everyone except Asaara thought less of Simra for having night-terrors.

{Because they mean I am weak?} Cassandra sighed before gently laying a hand on Simra's shoulder making her look up.

{Simra I do not know everything you have been through, but even the little that I know would give anyone night-terrors. Even I still have nightmares about events in my life, when my brother was killed in front of me it caused me to have nightmares often, even now years latter I still have the nightmares sometimes. Ask Asaaranda if you don't believe me, she has had to wake me sometimes when I start thrashing and clawing at my skin.} Simra was floor, so much so she nearly fell off her hart.

{R-Really?} Simra could not believe it like Asaara Cassandra seemed to be unafraid of anything.

{Yes, it is the fact that you still fight and do not let your past chain you that shows you strength and that makes you stronger than most, now come that is enough heavy talking lets go see if Asaara has something of those Qunari spiced biscuits.} Simra perked up at the thought of food and the praise from Cassandra and rode ahead.

* * *

Cassandra watched the young elf ride off in search of treats and smiled to herself, she could see why her soulmate love the young woman like a daughter, the dwarf came along side her and smirked making her glare at him before speeding her own horse up to catch up with Asaara.

* * *

The breach shone bright in the sky as Josephine took her daily walk, a walk that had started because Simra had told her that every beautiful flower needed sunlight no matter the weather, and being called a beautiful flower along with Simra's doe eyed begging had her relenting and promising to take a walk everyday. Leliana had laughed when Josie had whine to the bard she had even given Simra a cookie the next time the bard encountered the elf, a messenger arriving shook her from her thoughts as the elven woman handed off the letter before disappearing to report back to the spymaster.

The letter had Josie nearly running back to her office to pen a response, the letter was simple and short but it was from her father who had been writing in response to her letter informing the family about Simra. The letter's message had her needing to write two letters one to her father and one to Simra to inform her of the news.

She reached her large desk and smiled at the sight of the crystal grace flowers that had been made into real crystal as a gift from Simra to Josie, after settling she reached for her quill and began penning her response to her father.

THE LETTER(FROM JOSIE'S DAD):

I hope this letter finds you well my dear daughter, your mother and I are happy to hear you have at last found your soulmate and while we admit we were hoping for a man as long as your happy that is all we can ask for. Your mother has closed off talks with the other nobles about your hand in marriage after receiving the news about this Simra so do not worry yourself on that front, all that we ask is that you speak with Simra about how to carry on the family line. Your mother tells me that I am being overbearing in suggesting using a stud of sorts for both of you, perhaps one of your brother for your soulmate if she is open to it and a noble lord for yourself when the time comes.

Your lord father.

Yves Montilyet

P.S

Your mother tells me that you may disregard the last sections about studs and such, also when your inquisition is more stable your mother and I will be visiting to meet this elven mage, until till then live well daughter.

* * *

Asaaranda stood next to her soulmate and Daughter staring up at the breach, Solas came forward to tell her that the mages were ready, she nodded after speaking with the Dread wolf during their watches together both Simra and Asaara had managed to finally convince him to slow his plans down. Now that the mage was willing to slow his pace the pair of mages had begun helping him research everything that could help bring down the veil safely, he had yet to reveal what happened to make the breach but Asaaranda knew that it would be damning.

She gave Cassandra one last deep kiss and hugged Simra before Asaaranda moved into position and the others moved to their positions as well, Ironbull stood at her left weapon drawn while Casandra moved to guard her right flank above and behind them stood Varric with his crossbow in hand and ready. The group was there to ensure that nothing went wrong if demons got through they would protect her while she closed the breach, the other mages of their group were acting a channels for her. They would take the mana from the mages and channel it to her lessening the strain it would put on her, with everything ready she reached for the breach with her power.


	19. Chapter 19 A mountain falls

Ch.19 A nightmare Returns and a Mountain Falls

Asaaranda felt the mark's power arc out and touch the breach, the moment it touched she felt a searing pain unlike anything she had felt before race through her body, after a moment she felt the power of her friends reaching for her to ease the burden. The power of her friends channeling the mages eased the pain to the point where she could focus the power into the mark, as the power flowed she was dimly aware of the breach writhing in the sky as it fought the power trying to seal it, with one last push from the mark the breach snapped closed with a deafening boom that drove the strength from her limbs. Just as she was about to hit the ground face first she felt a pair of large heavily muscled arms wrap around her torso.

{Easy there boss, need to look good for the troops. Now mind standing up soon the seeker looks jealous about me getting touchy with you.} Asaaranda could hear the smirk in Bull's voice, gathering her strength she pushed off his arms to stand tall.

{Sorry bull I am a one-woman kind of gal now, unless of course you convince my Ataashi otherwise.} she joked and felt a metal glove clip her before Cassandra pulled her into a hug.

{So I am a Ataashi am I?} Cassandra asked looking at her.

{Of course you hold the passion and strength on one and besides I would gladly be part of your treasure hoard any day Ataashi!} Asaaranda purred as she nuzzled the shorter woman, glad that she had chosen to not wear her Vitaar allowing her to touch her soulmate.

Cassandra smiled shyly blushing before Asaaranda could make another joke she felt a thud on back before something started climbing her chattering a mile a minute in elven, Laughing Asaaranda reached behind her to rub her elven daughter's head as Varric came up smirking.

"Sparks that has to be the biggest light show I have ever seen you make and that includes our last fight before you left Hawke!" Varric said laughing and Asaaranda felt a slight shiver at the reminder of that night, it had been the toughest fight any of them had ever had and the soon she forgot it the better.

* * *

Varric sat next to Vines who was playing cards, normally Varric would join in but he had learned along time ago that Vines played cards better than anyone. The first night in camp she had cleaned out all of the soldiers dumb enough to challenge the tiny elf. 'got to remember to get her and Rivaini in the same tavern one day!' Varric thought as Vines once again cleared the table.

"How does she keep doing that?" a man asked as Vines piled more gold into her purse.

[Simple I cheat!] Varric nearly choked on his drink at that, the innocent smile on her face and everyone in the tavern turning to Varric her unofficial translator and babysitter. "She said just good luck." Varric said and before anyone could say something the alarm bells rang loudly and Vines vanished in a frost step out the door with Varric right behind her.

Varric caught up to Vines at the gate where ruffles and the rest of the advisors stood trying to figure out what to do, a sudden flash of light near the gate and the sounds of a fight followed by the sound of someone yells to be let in. Sparks and the Seeker opened the door and there stood a kid who had just finished killing a cultist, Varric's only thought about the kid was that he needed a sandwich or twenty. Before the kid could say anything he was pinned to the ground by Sparks as Vines rushed forward pulling a vial of something that was glowing purple and pulsing, Curly looked like he was about to step in when the seeker blocked him as Varric watched Vines put a dab of the gel on her forehead then another on the kid's before touching the gelled spots together for a moment before intoning in a far away voice.

[Compassion made flesh.] the words washed over Varric like ice, the voice sound like Vines but if it was Vines then Varric was a nug mage.

{Speak Compassion quickly.} Sparks said and once the kids finished speaking he pointed to the so called elder one who was standing on the cliffs above them, Varric felt his blood run cold at the sight of something that should have been dead.

* * *

Simra was fighting hard with her spectral blade beside Vivienne while Sera and Bull aimed the trebuchet, Simra fought hard trying to forget the figure standing on the mountain top and what it meant that she was standing next to that monster that had made Asaara-mother shake. That woman should not have been there she should have been in Tevinter not here in haven, had she been bought by that thing or had she escaped and joined willingly, 'NO! She would never encourage these horrors!' Simra thought fiercely as she shook her head to clear it.

Simra rolled to the side to avoid being crushed by the large creature's red lyrium maul arm, the crack of thunder signaled the creature's end as Asaaranda smashed into it's head killing it instantly. As they were aim the last shot Simra looked up at the cliffs one last time and saw the woman watching them and Simra felt her eyes burning into hers, a simple veil fire appeared in the woman's hand flashing three colours red the green followed by blue after that the woman turned and left. 'I hope we never met on the battle field Ma Falon for Simra will fight for Simra's family first no matter Simra's past.' Simra thought bitterly before turning to watch the sky for threats.

Calpernia Looked down at the inquisition that dared to challenge her master, with careful planning she had made that fool Samson take the fall instead of her when the mages were taken by this force below her. Now however she almost wished it had been her to fall as she watched that elven woman dance free at last on the field of battle, Calpernia watched her fight and felt conflicted every time she attacked a new foe as she wanted her to stay safe but also she wanted her master's forces to win.

When the Templar monster fell at last to the large qunari woman who wielded magic like none she had ever seen or heard of she sighed in relief. She could not bear it if the elf met an undignified death at the hands of that creature, when the herald's group started to finish aim the last trebuchet she felt the eyes of the woman on her. She raised her hand summoning the veil fire like the elf had once taught her during one of the times that she had the strength to teach her, she flashed the fire as she had been taught to signal that danger from above was coming, with that last piece of help she turned and left leaving the woman to her fate and praying to the old gods that they never met on the battle field as she would do anything to see Tevinter great again.

* * *

Asaaranda watched the creature come closer with his pet dragon, she could not believe that this bastard was standing in front of her! She had removed the bastard's head herself during her last adventure with Hawke, but no matter what she had done in the past the monster in front of her was still yammering about being a god or something, really she had stopped listening after that spell of his had set the mark burning. Corypheus grabbed her arm and lifted her off the ground still ranting but as he lifted she saw the signal and she grinned savagely before wreathing herself in fire burning the bastard's hand making him drop her.

{I killed you once you blighted shite! So eat mountain arsehole!} She growled before she kicked the release of the trebuchet and changed her coating into that of lightning and taking off leaving him to be crushed by the mountain.

Asaaranda knew she had only seconds before the avalanche crashed into her, she pushed her magic to get as much speed as she could if she could reach the mines she would be safe. She ducked into the mine entrance that Simra had found while playing hide and seek with Sera just as the snow started to bury the entrance, releasing her spell she summoned a small flicker of veil fire and began her journey through the mountain's bones.


	20. Chapter 20 Skyhold Bound

Ch.20 To Skyhold We go.

The members of the inquisition had set up tents and shelters in an area that provided the most cover from both the enemy's sight and the elements, Cassandra could not sleep as she stood at the edge of the camp looking out into the pass praying for her soulmate's safety. Cassandra knew Asaaranda was alive and not dying at the current moment as her mark was still firmly a tattoo and not a brand, the sounds of arguing reached her as Cullen and Josephine got into another fight and Cassandra waited to hear Simra yelling at Cullen for yelling at her soulmate However, the sounds never came and just as Cassandra was wondering why a blood curdling scream rang through the camp.

Cassandra knew what the sounds was even though she had only heard it once, paling she ran hard towards the tent where Simra was sleeping hoping to reach the tent before anyone especially a male tried to enter the tent. Sera and Vivienne arrived at the same time as Cassandra reached the tent with Josephine only a beat behind, Sera looked at the tent before turning to the her.

"Go she needs her other mother, Lady Iron and Ruffles will keep them out!" Sera said with a hard glint in her eye promising that anyone trying to enter the tent besides the seeker was in for a world of pain.

Nodding Cassandra rushed into the tent barely hearing the Iron bull ordering the chargers into a perimeter around the tent as the rest of the circle arrived to support their friend even the dread wolf arrived to protect the young elf, Cassandra drew on the powers of her training to calm the magic running wild as Simra thrashed on the bed roll screaming in elven. Seeing a small lull in the thrashing Cassandra dived forward cupping Simra's face and barking in her best parade ground voice ordering her to wake up.

* * *

Simra's eyes flew open as she woke from the nightmare, she had dreamed of the last time she had seen her friend and student Calpernia as Calpernia was dragged off the boat and on to another one while Simra was dragged below deck to continue her 'Lessons'. Her green eyes found a pair of doe brown staring back into hers. She felt Seeker-mother rest her forehead against hers and whisper to her.

{It is alright little one, I am here now and I wont let anything harm you not even your dreams.} Simra teared up at the gentle voice before cling to her Seeker-mother and sobbing.

Simra felt herself picked up and moved on to Cassandra's lap and soon felt a steady hand rubbing her back as she sobbed, when her sobbing quieted down she heard the Seeker-mother's voice singing Simra's favourite lullaby. As she sat curled in her lap Simra fell asleep and did not wake when the seeker rose and left after sending Josephine in to be with her.

* * *

Asaaranda walked through the cold tunnels searching for an exit close to the top of the mountains, after what seemed like hours of searching she found one. After a brief fight with some demons and learning a new trick for the mark she walked out into the snow, she wrapped herself in a very thin coating of fire this coating kept her from freezing to death as she strode through the snow and ice. Following a helpful wisp that she summoned she quickly found the path of the remaining members of the inquisition, she walked quickly and soon heard shouts so she used a flicker more power to make the flames brighter but not hotter. The first to reach her was Cassandra who threw herself as Asaara who had barely enough time to dispel the flames before she was wrapped in a crushing embrace.

{You ever do something that stupid again and I will never touch you again!} her Ataashi snarled and that made Asaaranda paled before swearing that she would never do anything of the like again, she was not risking what her mate was promising.

She found out that due to the number of tents that the members of the inner circle were in tents pairings of four, strange luck had landed Josie and Simra with Cassandra and Leliana who said she would just sleep with the other female spies for the time letting the bonded pair stay together. In the way to the tent as it was too late to do anything but sleep Cassandra explained about Simra's most recent night terror, Asaaranda thanked her mate for helping her elven daughter.

{I was glad to do it; I have found myself thinking of her as my daughter sometimes.} the Seeker confessed and Asaara laughed assuring her mate that was how it started for her and Simra in the beginning as the elf just grew on you.

The pair entered the tent just as Josie was changing and the woman quickly squeaked hiding herself with her robe, laughing the women told her not to worried and at the sound of the qunari's laugh Simra bolted up right before throwing herself at her adoptive mothers. The women pried the elf off and got changed before curling up on one of the bedrolls, right as they were about to drift off they heard another squeak right before a heavy weight fell on them as Simra dragged Josie with her to cuddle into her mothers warmth. The women sighed but shifted to welcome the bonded pair and the human of the pair for both were flushing bright red as the positions they fell in was very intimate.

{should I be Jealous Ataashi?} Asaaranda chuckled seeing her mates knee between the other human's legs pressing the mound between while Josie found her face buried in the seeker's ample chest.

{Ma vhenan it is Simra's leg you should grind against and my chest you should put you mouth on or is mine not big enough?} came a pout from the small elf that made the woman in question turn over and rearrange to be in the same position with her elven mate instead.

The group chuckled before drifting off in a large pile, no dreams disturbed the four women that night. In the morning came the challenge of untangling the knot of limbs they had become.

* * *

Four days later found the inquisition settling into the keep Solas had shown them, though he had nearly not lived to see it when Simra found out just how the monster had come into possession of the foci. After much talking the group decided that Asaaranda was to be named the inquisitor and the seeker to be made the official right hand while Leliana was made the left hand. After the ceremony was finished Asaaranda and Cassandra cornered Varric with Leliana showing up at the same time.

{Send a message to Spinner, and don't bother lying about knowing where she is. If you know where Rivaini then you know where Hawke is so send her a letter asking for her help, I know she looked into that monster after I left do that I wont let Ataashi skin you alive.} Asaaranda said, and Leliana added another chore.

"Have the admiral swing by here first to pick up my soulmate and her brother, their quest is over and we could use their help." Leliana said handing Varric a map before leaving, Varric nodded and quickly left to deliver the message.

* * *

Isabela stood leaning against the prow of the siren's call 2 when she heard the telltale whispers of leather and metal sliding over each other, without turning she knew who it was and she guess was confirmed a second later when a pair of firm but feminine hands wrapped around her back to grab her breasts playing with them gently as a set of teeth gnawed gently on the back of her neck making her shiver.

"Did you just come to get you admiral hot and bothered or did you come with a message?" She asked her soulmate and second in command.

"I can't do both? I am how can I resist when you dare to look so tasty, also the crow nest watcher reports seeing the signal flare so those three should be here soon." Came the whispered reply from Sydney 'Spinner' Hawke before she nipped lightly the ear of her soulmate.

Before Isabela could respond the pair heard a female voice call out from shore. "Permission to come aboard Admiral Sexy?" Isabela laughed as she saw the pirate elven pair standing on the beach with Fenris brooding behind them.

"Of course how could I refuse my favourite captains in my fleet and my favourite boarding party commander! Now get those lovely asses up here before I have you whipped on your ass!" Isabela felt Spinner laughing silently behind her.

"Promises, promises Admiral but you know that unless my song bird is with me you can't touch this fine ass!" came the mocking taut as the trio boarded and the crew readied the ship to sail.

Isabela laughed as she stepped forward to hug her favourite elven captains who had become her best raider captains in her growing fleet, the pair greeted her with the sister still the happy bouncing elf while her brother stood by with amused smirk on his face. When the ship got under way the five friends went below deck to catch the twins up on the events of the world while they had been away, by the time they went to bed the twins were eager to return to their soulmates and help hunt down this new threat.


	21. Chapter 21 Chaos at Skyhold

Ch.21 Chaos arrives at Skyhold

Leliana watched the main road as the figures got closer to the main get, she was glad for the cool air that was doing wonders for the headache she had after the war meeting. Asaaranda and Simra revealed that Solas was in fact the dread wolf of legend at that reveal Cullen tried to kill Solas for causing the event the led to the divine's death, that ended quickly as Adaar grabbed Cullen by the collar on his way to kill the elf and sent the man flying into a wall with enough force to knock the man out. After Solas explained his side everyone decided to hold off on killing or maiming the mage until this new threat was dealt with, now she watched as the five figures approached the gate and entered when the gate was opened, smiling she followed them at a distance in until they slipped into the war room.

Leliana smiled at the sight of her Soulmate throwing off her cloak with a flourish landing it in the hands of her brother who just sighed to use to his sister's antics, Before the inner circle could say anything Selva caught Leliana in a deep kiss that was an excuse to feel her up, Leliana felt her soulmate grab her ass and moaned into the kiss a bit but jumped with a very unlady-like curse as her soulmate slipped a hand down her pants while the other had been trying to get up her shirt. Sera started laughing in the back ground as Josie blushed deeply and the Herald just smirked.

{I knew I liked her even in that fucked up future!} came the laughing voice from the Qunari woman who was in the process of trying to feel her soulmate up.

{Spinner it is good to see you again, I see that the pirates life suits you. Do you get enough rum?} Asaaranda asked the champion.

{No the rum is always gone and I don't know why?} Sydney said laughing.

"That is because you drink it all then stumble into the cabin drunk and pass out leaving me without sex!" Isabela whined.

"I told you just use me how you please in that case." Came the snarky response and Leliana cleared her throat to get everyone back on track.

After introductions were made with Hawke and Isabela both threating the Ironbull in creative ways if he ever did anything to their friend again the group moved on to discuss the threat of the cultists and their leader, the meeting dragged on for sometime until the plan of actions was decided. Hawke and her companions would travel to look up an old friend in the wardens while Taeris traveled back to Orlais to be with his soulmate and keep them updated on the assassination plot there via fade messages with his sister, Selva would remain at skyhold to act as a message relay and to help with the spy network. The rest would work on getting the inner circle to the winter palace for the ball, Vivienne and Josephine along with Leliana plus her soulmate volunteered to help ready Asaaranda for the ball. The meeting broke up soon after and Leliana was about to return to her work when a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

"Show me our rooms my Songbird, I want to hear you singing my name in you gasping moans and screams!" Came the sultry voice as hands wandered into her pants and began playing with her until she agreed.

* * *

A few days later Morrigan was out in the main garden watching the sky while her son played in a nearby alcove, there was a loud screech as a large owl descended out of the night sky on snowy wings. She smiled gently as she scratched the large bird's feathers after it landed on her left arm, without being called her son Kieran came up and locked gazes with the owl and smiled brightly. Without saying a single word, she stood the owl spreading its wings slightly to hold balance as she crossed the gardens before taking a small stair case up to their rooms.

The moment the doors were locked behind the pair the owl floated gently to the floor and in a flash gone was the owl and in its place, was a lithe elven male with the markings of the secret keeper and bright blond hair. Morrigan smiled as Kieran ran to hug his father who glowed with a health that Morrigan had not seen since before the archdemon fell to his blade, the man smiled like the feral beast that he was at her.

"Kieran my boy I will be glad to hear all your tale's tomorrow but tonight your mother and I need time alone, be a good boy and go to bed and don't try and break the wards I set tonight." Kieran frowned but obeyed knowing that fighting his father would do nothing.

"So I take by your presence that a cure was found?" She asked and instead of an answer she felt something pushing into her mind, letting it in she saw his memories of his travels and finding the cure from the letter.

"Good then you will be staying I assume, your son missed you greatly." "Only my son my loving wife did not miss me?" She glared at his smirk.

"No the only thing I miss was your skills in bed, beyond that the quiet was nice." She felt strong arms grab her from behind and fling her on to the bed.

"Well if you only missed my skills then I must prove to you that they are better than you recall!" She felt a shiver at the growl in his voice as he approached, clothes falling off as his magic worked on both their outfits.

With a snap of his wrists her dress flew across the room to land in a pile next to his own clothes, before she could make any kind of move his lips were on hers and a fierce battle for dominance began. It ended when she was pinned beneath his slight form giving her a nice view of his muscle flexing as he pinned her wrist above her head with one hand and cupping her cunt with the over.

"My, my someone is eager for me, I am flattered!" He purred against her neck a moment before he bit her hard, before she had time to fully feel the pain his warm tongue ran over the bite mark.

He kept toying with her as she writhed under him, she was snarling and trying to get more friction but every time she got a bit more he backed off completely smirking at her.

"What is it you want my loving raven? Do you want something to sooth your itch?" Morrigan had forgotten in the months apart that Taeris welcomed the pleasure of sex but what really got him off was making her ask for him, he enjoyed playing with her then bringing her to mind shattering levels of bliss.

"Y-Yes you know what I want now give it to me!" Morrigan hated and loved this side of her mate, he knew just how far to push her.

"Now-Now you must tell me, I am not a mind reader in bed my little raven." He smirked as he drew lazy designs feather light over her sex making her moan,

"Fuck me now!" "As my lady wishes." Came the response a moment before he hilted her as he had been working her over she felt no pain as they joined.

He set a hard but smooth rhythm that had her moaning in seconds, a few beats later she was screaming as she crested but never once did he stop only changed the rhythm to allow her to come down. Once she came down he flipped her over and began fucking her hard from behind, Morrigan knew what was about to happen but still jumped slightly when she felt his sharp teeth fix themselves to where her left shoulder met neck. He kept the pace while still holding her in his jaws, it had surprised her the first time he had ever done it but soon found that it was his way of staking claim to her without being jealous and she found that knowing the mark was there made her feel loved and safe.

As they lay entwined afterwards Morrigan tracing the new scars on her lover's chest enjoying the purring coming from his chest as elves often did when feeling safe and happy, she felt him tracing the words twisting just over her ass like a tramp stamp. She moved her own hands to trace his the ran over his hip bones, she drifted off to sleep smiling slyly knowing that the fools in court were about to have an even harder time trying to make her slip up with another pair of eyes and ears that could go where she could not..


	22. Chapter 22 Seeker and the Vines

CH.22 Seeker

Cassandra was walking by the library when she heard a girlish shriek coming from within, she rushed in just in time to see the Orlesian noblemen faint on the spot as a melodic laugh rang out from above. Cassandra looked up and saw what made the man faint as there was Simra hanging from the ceiling between to large bolts of emerald green cloth, that would be bad enough but the small elf was only hanging by her legs wrapped in the bolts as she hung up side down reading a book while laughing. Cassandra sighed ever since Simra had found out that the library's floors were missing their centers she had hung a pair of magically strengthened bolts of cloth there and had taken up practicing circus tricks on them, Asaaranda had told her that one of the mercenaries in her squad had once been an elven circus performer and had taught Simra for a mission.

{Simra get down from there before you make another person faint, and for the maker's sake put some less revealing clothes on!} Cassandra called out and heard the vague sound of agreement.

A moment later Simra came sliding down the bolts landing on her feet straighten before trotting over to a small bag and pulling out clothes to go over top of her binder and shorts, Cassandra sighed wondering how she got stuck dealing with this and then she remembered that both her soulmate and Simra's were in meetings all day while Dalish was away with the chargers. This left the seeker as the only one Simra listened to, Solas gave her a grateful glance before returning to his work, the mage had confessed his involvement with the breach's creation and was not working tirelessly to fix it.

{Seeker-mother Simra was about to look for you, Simra needs you help with something.} Cassandra smiled gently at the excited tone in the young elf's voice.

{What do you need help with Simra.} Cassandra asked knowing it could be anything from where her latest stuffed nug from Krem went all the way up to help with translating a text.

{What kind of things go you give your soulmate's parents as thanks for accepting and what can Simra gave Josie for her office so Simra does not have to threaten another shemlen arse off the battlements?} Cassandra raised her a single eyebrow at those questions.

Those questions explained the last few days' events, first there had been Simra turning bright red when ever someone mention marriage near her and dowries. It also explained way that one noble ran screaming from the lady ambassador's office a few days ago as if he was being chased by a demon, later Adaar had told her that Simra had walked in on a noble trying to get handsy with Josephine who had looked greatly upset at the time.

{I would suggest that you ask Josephine what her parents like for a gift then make something along those lines, from what I know of her family a hand made gift from a dalish mage would be something they would treasure.} Cassandra said recalling that Josephine had mentioned that her parents adored dalish artwork and loved anything made by their mages, and having seen the crystal flowers Simra had made for her she could see why.

{Oh that is good, Simra remembers Josie saying that he father loves art and her mother loved hearing about the crystal flowers! But what should Simra do about the nobles who try and seduce ma Vhenan?} Simra asked pouting a bit at the end.

{You could ask for her hand in marriage, then craft her a ring to wear that will not interfere with her work, what do the dalish do for proposals?} Cassandra asked curious as Simra rarely talked about her clan's old traditions mainly out of respect for others it seemed.

{Every clan is different ours is the asker gives the other a hand carved or forged necklace or hair tie of some kind, Simra's elf mother gave Simra's father an ironwood plated throat guard with lower face mask piece in the shape of a bear's muzzle.} Cassandra nearly cooed at the idea of that method.

{Try doing both that way you have made it clear who she is loyal to.} Cassandra suggested and Simra smiled nodding now bouncing on her feet.

Simra grabbed her by the wrist and began dragging her off to the garden, Cassandra tried to back out but Simra just turned and pouted at her.

{But in Simra's clan one of the asker's parents are suppose to help pick out the gifts for the other parents and soulmate to show support for their child.} Simra said looking very dejected making Cassandra feel guilty.

{Then should Asaara not be the one or Kara I know they are your family?} Cassandra asked not wanting to take away from her soulmate or Simra's cousin this chance to bond with the elf, but Simra was shaking her head.

{Simra already asked them and they said that Seeker-mother would like it more if Simra asked her for help, and they said the you would know what would make good gifts better than them. But if Cassandra if you do not want to I can do it on my own.} Simra said sounding close to tears, Cassandra pulled the small elf to her chest.

{Simra the only reason I asked was to make sure you were fine with me and not settling for me because the others were no here, I would be honoured to help you even if you are not of my flesh you are my daughter as much as you are Asaaranda's never doubt that.} Cassandra said gently before putting two fingers under her daughter's chin and making her look into Cassandra's eyes.

[ma' esha'lin ar would lath to athlan ma ashalan] Cassandra said seriously taking take to pronounce ever word correctly, every night Asaaranda had been teaching her more Qunlat and Elven and this was a phrase she had taken to learn, and watching the happy shock and the tears of joy in her adopted daughter's face made it all worth it.

[Ma serannas lanalin!] The young elf cried before dragging her out to the garden where they spent an hour picking out the right flowers.

* * *

Simra bounced into the into the library carrying the flowers and feathers she would need for the next part, after kicking solas out of the main floor she began the prep work for the spells. She placed the flower and feathers to one side before clearing the center of the floor, once clean she grabbed her mages kit from a small shelf nearby and began working on drawing a large magic circle on the floor. Many were often surprised by how well Simra could draw the circles given the amount of time and skill needed, but to Simra it was a fun challenge making sure every thing was perfect, from time to time she had Cassandra help her with laying out parts or writing in symbols all while explaining what she was doing aloud to help her think.

When the flowers for soulmate's parents were arranged, she stepped back and began chanting her casting, she felt her spirit friends crossing the veil to dance with her magic as it spun around and through the flowers in the center of the circle. Light began to gather around the flowers growing until the cuttings were hidden from view and elven singing could be heard as he magics reached a peak and began to fade quickly, when the light vanished the flowers had turned into crystal that was life like and while thin it was stronger that steel. Cassandra came forward and wordlessly with a look of pride that warmed Simra replace the flowers with the feathers that Simra had shaped into simple yet elegant hair net for making a bun, the design was laid out in such a way that it would look like her hair melted into the feathers that would cover the bun. Once the seeker was safely out side the circle once more Simra raised her voice again calling her friends back to play once more, Shemlen mages did not know what they were missing by rejecting spirits who could help them achieve things link making feathers into something that would never fade away.

* * *

(The next day!)

Leliana watched from the railings of Vivienne's loft as the Inquisitor stood to call an end to her day of court, the woman had insisted that if they were basically ruling the mountains and she was their leader then she would hold court to ensure that her people were cared for and that the little people had a chance to voice their views, this action had caused a stir among the nobles but oddly it was only raising the nobles view of Adaar and the inquisition.

Leliana saw Simra moving to stand nearer the dais and she smirked the other day Simra had came blushing to her asking for Josie's hand in marriage stating that it did not matter what she thought it was happening but she would like the blessing of everyone her soulmate cared for, and leliana the hopeless romantic she was agreed and even offered suggestions. Her soulmate had as well but those were more what to do in bed afterwards not with the asking, that had Simra fleeing beet red Leliana's soulmate made some of the most hardened sailors blush some days.

The inquisitor called that there was only one last piece of business for the day before the court ended, and Leliana took a moment to enjoy the panicked look on her friend's face at the thought that she had forgotten something. When Simra and Josie were called up to the throne Josie became even more confused until Simra dropped to one knee and produced a small velvet box with something gleaming gold nestled within and her magically translated and projected voice carried outwards to everyone.

[Ma Vhenan when we met I promised you that I would love you until the end of time, now here today I ask you. Josephine Montilyet will you be my bride and bondmate? Will you wear my token to show the world that you are loved and cherished and will you take me as your bride and bondmate to allow me to wear your favour so that all may know that Simra Lavellan belongs to you Ma Vhenan?] there was silence in the hall as they all waited for the noble woman's answer.

[Of course!] came the shrill shriek as Josie threw herself into Simra's kneeling arms. Laughing Simra stood twirling her love around before setting her down.

Leliana watched as golden ring was placed on her friend's finger and the Seeker came forward and handed a larger box to Simra who took out a hair net made of feathers and tied into place on her new fiancé's hair, Leliana descended the steps to congratulate her friend and coo over the ring and hair net. The ring was thin and small made of gold with small green emeralds embedded in the ring flush so that she could wear it at all times, there was a floral vine pattern engraved into the ring curling around the emeralds that ran around the whole ring. Josie was blushing and already planning the wedding and as she got more and more excited and planned more and more details Simra's face just got paler and paler, Leliana laughed and hugged the poor elf whispering that she would help the poor elf. Suddenly Simra jumped a solid foot in the air with a small shriek clutching her ass whirling to glare at Selva.

"Well Josie I just check you got yourself a fine piece of ass not ass great as my song bird but still good!" Simra was busy hiding behind Josie while Cassandra and Adaar began advancing on Leliana's soulmate, making Leliana sigh before going to rescue her mate before she got mauled.

The night passed quietly and found the newly engaged pair curled up asleep in each other's arms as they slept, leaving the worry about the coming battles for the next day when Simra and Asaaranda would have to leave to meet up with Hawke in Crestwood.


	23. Chapter 23 Loghain

Ch.23 Sparks meets Loghain

Simra rode beside Sera talking as the rain pounded down, normally Simra would be riding further up ahead with Asaaranda-mother and Seeker-mother but it was raining and Asaara hates the rain so Simra made the decision to ride further back than risk her qunari-mother's wrath. Sera was chattering a mile a minute as Simra sat listening smiling glad she had made up with the hyper elf, the iron bull was riding a very large dracolisk next to Vivienne who was riding fine through bred horse off a dabbled white. The pair were talking and joking, suddenly Simra felt a pair of spindly wire muscled arms wrap around her waist suddenly.

[Ma Falon Simra told you to warn me otherwise you scare bright-eyes!] Simra lightly scolded the spirit boy that had abandoned his calm undead bog unicorn that had a lead tied to her saddle for things like this.

"Sorry, I did not want you to be sad about the rain, the clouds are just lightening their burden." Came the quite response.

[I know Ma Falon but Simra is not sad about the rain, Simra is sad because Asaara-mother is grouchy when it rains.] Simra said soothingly to the creature that she had taken in as a brother to help teach the world to, no matter the dread wolf's views on the matter.

"Kid are you bugging vines?" Varric joked as his rode up on his horse.

"There are no vines here though?" Cole stated confused, Simra laughed in her high and clear voice.

{Vines is what he calls me Ma Falon, like when he calls you kid.} Cole nodded sagely at that.

"Vines curl around her like a tender guardian sharp thorns careful to never touch, they crack like the arcs from sparks protecting their mother." Cole said clearly reading the thoughts of Varric.

"Yeah kid just like that, but what did we say about reading others minds?" Varric asked

"It's Creepy just like him!" Came a shout from Sera who was promptly flicked on the nose by Simra.

{Simra does not want her siblings fighting, so Sera-sister please don't be mean to Cole-spirit-brother.} Simra pleaded with magic lacing her voice to be understood, she also begged with her best baby-halla eyes.

"Ugh fine! Just stop looking at me like that! Makes me feel like a bloody puppy." She grumbled the last part.

{Kids stop fighting or I will come back there!} Asaaranda called back and at once sera and Simra clammed up.

* * *

"About time you got here sparks! Broody and I have been waiting for hours now!" came the excited call from Spinner.

{Did you two get along?} Asaaranda mocked knowing that Fenris and spinner often got in a brawl whenever they were left alone with nothing to do.

"Nooo mom, we behaved." Spinner said drawing it out as she spun her bow around like a staff.

"She slept or read most of the time." Fenris said as he drew level with the group and smiled warmly.

"All right let us go and meet this warden you know champion and get out of this rain before we drowned." Cassandra cut in looking very unhappy being soaked.

"As our lady iron tits commands!" Spinner bowed mockingly causing Cassandra to make a disgusted noise while Asaaranda just sighed.

* * *

Cassandra followed her soulmate into the cave, she glanced back and saw blackwall throwing his usual sullen glare at the back of Simra's head. Blackwall had been unhappy to learn that the ambassador had a soulmate already but became sullen when Simra and Asaaranda showed no care about being viewed as heroes or leaders, Asaaranda entered the room and Cassandra caught the hiss of a sword being pulled from its sheath. Before anyone could move the figure that started to step out of the shadows towards her soulmate with his weapon drawn was thrown by a pair of mage bolts.

"Wait Loghain it's me Sydney this is the herald and her team, Sparks stand down this is my contact!" Sydney cried leaping between the man and the group.

"Apologies my lady I had thought you were one of the wardens who have taken leave of their sense." Loghain said rising smoothly.

{No need to apologize warden, you were just being careful.} Asaaranda said and Cassandra was about to translate when Loghain spoke.

{Thank you for your kindness my lady.} the man said in rough but clear Qunlat, shocking everyone there besides Hawke and Fenris.

"Thank you for meeting with us warden Loghain, we were hoping you could shed some light on the vanishing of the wardens. Our own warden knows nothing about it." Cassandra said respectfully.

"has have been suffering the calling so much that they could not come as well?" Loghain asked and that tripped alarms for Cassandra.

{What do you mean blackwall is right there?} Simra asked.

Loghain's sword flew from its sheath pointing towards blackwall who looked panicked as the others backed away.

"That man is no warden blackwall, I knew the man from when he was traveling Frelden with Duncan before heading to deliver news to Orlais before the blight began." Loghain snarled and in a flash of light the five mages in the room trapped the false warden in five binding spells.

{Who are you!?} Asaaranda demanded magic lacing her words, Blackwall began speaking telling his story and at the end there was silence as they all waited for judgment to be passed.

{if not for killing innocents and abandoning your men I would have you live on to redeem yourself but there are things that must never be forgiven.} Asaaranda snarled and with a flick of her wrist the spell turned into a fire glyph and burned the false warden to death in a second.

After that Loghain discussed everything he knew and at the end the group parted ways with the warden as he went to spread word of the cure in secret and to watch the warden's movement, the group started making their way back to skyhold as they had received a letter from Josephine stating they needed to get back for fittings and training for the winter palace.

"I hate dresses!" Casandra growled and heard Asaaranda sigh.

{Ataashi I was looking forward to seeing you in a dress pair with mine, so that all may see your true beauty not just those you keep close.} Cassandra flushed at her soulmate's words.

{Please Seeker-mother Simra wants to see you in a dress to, they we can eat tiny cakes and laugh at Orlesian fashion. OOOH we can wear qun and dalish style dress, you would look beautiful in the dress style Asaaranda-mother wears at those parties, there is always some fool shem that faints on sight.} Simra said in high speed Qunlat before dancing around to stop the seeker and make her baby halla eyes.

{Please say that Seeker-mother will wear a qun based dress and let Simra do seeker-mother's hair and make-up, I do it for Asaara-mommy Please?} Simra begged drawing out the last word, Cassandra sighed.

{I swear you are part desire demon my daughter, fine I will do as you asked but that is only as long as you behave yourself at the party.} she stated watching Simra turn into a ball of energy, hugging her tightly before darting away to tell Sera and Cole.

{I just agreed to something unwise, didn't I?} Cassandra asked her soulmate.

{I hope you are comfortable with yourself Ataashi, we kossith don't cover much you have seen my armor? Our dresses are like that but more revealing.} Cassandra's jaw dropped, she had a hard-enough time in battle focusing with her soulmate dress like that, and she had agreed to wear something skimpier and there was no way of backing out as Josephine would have her killed for upsetting Simra by backing out. That is assuming she did not die of guilt first.

Cassandra sighed and began mentally readying herself for the event, maybe she could get Simra and her soulmate to make a human version of the war-paint Asaara wore in battle. Then at least it was armor not something that should be in a brothel, that was her thought as she crawled into her tent that night.


	24. Chapter 24 Fittings and Dreams

Ch.24 fittings.

"I don't see why I have to wear a suit instead of armor?" Cullen griped as Josie dragged the inner circle to the tailors that had been brought to the castle.

"Because we are going there to be seen as a peaceful order bringing force, not a group of thugs and ruffians." Josie explained while Simra bounced along side her eager to get to the fittings as Simra loved wearing dresses and such.

{Simra can't wait to see Katoh again!} Josie was also looking forward to meeting more of those her soulmate called family.

{Simra! I heard your getting hitched, you better be planning to let the Val-Kos come and I am making your dress no arguments!} A loud booming voice called out as a Qunari women who was even broader than Asaaranda stepped out of the curtained of area.

{Of course, Simra would never bond with out the Val-kos, but you have to take up Simra's dress with Josie otherwise Simra might get in trouble.} Simra chirped as she threw herself into the arms of the large woman.

{Katoh, I see you have managed to not die yet.} Asaaranda snarked at the older woman.

{Ah Adaar I see what you meant in your letter's a real Ataashi made flesh this one is!} Cassandra flushed under the sharp gaze.

{All right I got some of my brood with me so men in one half woman in the other and strip to your unders and get ready to be handled.} Katoh ordered.

"Oh, I have always loved the touch of your kind such strong hands, it will be almost as good as watching you handle my wife!" Selva laughed and Katoh laughed when Leliana flushed slightly.

* * *

Cassandra stood rigid as the seamstress measured her in ways that she had never been measured before, after the measurements were done she heard Cullen all but flat out running away as Dorian laughed making suggestive comments. Josephine dragged her and the other women off to the war room discuss the dresses for the event.

It was another hour before Cassandra managed to escape the meeting when it had gotten to the point of arguing over the number of buttons on Simra's collar, she spent an hour and a half beating a training dummy. It was nearly dinner time when she stopped her training and went to find her soulmate, when she entered the rooms given to her and Asaaranda she found a sight that greatly confused her. Her soulmate as stripped down to her underclothes along with Simra in similar dress, that in of itself was not odd it was the fact that Josephine was there in similar attire while all three of them practiced flexibility based yoga. Asaaranda had taken to teaching Cassandra it to assist in improving her stamina and flexibility, and clearly Josephine had finally been convinced by Simra to join in. Josephine caught sight of her first and let out a small squeak before falling over from her wall assisted hand stand, Simra checked to make sure she was fine before laughing.

"I see that Simra finally wore you down ambassador?" Cassandra chuckled as the woman in question flushed scarlet.

"She suggested that it would help tone my body in time for the winter palace, and with the dress I somehow let her convince me to wear that would be best." Josephine stammered slightly.

[Ma vhenan would look like a goddess in anything, especially when she is not clothed at all!] Simra chirped suggestively as she helped Josie up and using that as a chance to coup a feel making the Antiavian squeak.

{I hope you have room for one more?} She asked her soulmate.

{We just finished our warm up, and so did you by the looks of it?} Asaara said running a lustful eye over Cassandra as she stripped down to her smalls.

{Good then let us move on then.} she said and the next hour was spent in quiet as they worked out together.

* * *

Leliana sat in the rookery reading reports when she felt the air stir as a large snow white Hawk came to rest on the railing beside her table, Leliana glared at the bird with her hands moving silently in her sleeve to loosen the knife resting there. The bird looked around itself before letting out a strange tune, it sounded like the sea shanty that her soulmate tended to whistle while working.

"Ah your early! I was not expecting you for another three days, you letter just arrived and I was coming to inform my song-bird here." Selva said as she sauntered up the stairs hips swaying in a walk that was born from sailing and making the most out of her 'assets'.

"Care to introduce us then?" Leliana said smoothly with a raised eyebrow.

"Beth, you can trust her, if her own soulmate is a mage and shape-changer you can bet she wont rat you out." Selva called to the bird who nodded.

In a bright flash of light the hawk was replaced with a young dark haired woman wearing the armour of the grey warden mages like her love, Leliana knew at once who this woman was having met her back in lothering and once again in Kirkwall. Bethany Hawke the greywarden looked at Leliana with a warm smile.

"It is good to see you Bethany, you more beautiful than the last time I saw you." Leliana said and the young woman flushed, clearly remembering their brief fling in both lothering and in Kirkwall, Leliana had permission from Selva that she was free to take lovers while Selva was away on long missions so long as Selva was told all the details on her return.

"Yes, it is good to see you as well leliana, I hear that I have you to thank for my cure." Bethany said smiling gently.

"So why did you come here? I assume not just to visit your sister?" Sydney was out on mission scouting out the warden fortress before they left for the winter palace.

"I came to help in anyway I can, Asaaranda mentioned in her letters that her elven daughter is looking for a research assistant. And thanks to Merrill I am well versed in elven magic and lore." Leliana smiled slightly at the thought of Simra meeting this young woman.

As if called by that very thought Simra's wolf form trotted up the stairs before coming to a rest at Leliana's feet with begging eyes, Leliana sighed as the young elf seemed to know how best to get her way with anyone. Leliana pulled out a dog treat and passed it to the wolf who took it with a lick of her hand before sitting and resting her head in the bard's lap encouraging her to scratch her ears.

"You wanted to meet Simra? While here she is in her fully cunning and scheming glory." Selva said laughing while Simra whined at the elf.

{Simra is not a schemer!} Came the pout after a bright flash of light restored the elf to her normal form head still in the bard's lap enjoying the absentminded caress.

"Wow Demon tongue! You won't need to use it around me though Asaaranda taught it to me." As soon as the words left the young woman's mouth she found herself crushed in a bone crushing hug by the small elf.

{Your sunshine! Simra has heard so much about Sunshine, she was like the first daughter for Asaara-mommy… That makes Sunshine Simra's mage sister! Welcome to skyhold Sun-sister, Asaara-mommy will be thrilled to see you! Come on Simra will take you to find her right now.} Simra dropped the surprised mage before grabbing her hand and pulling her along pausing only to toss back over her shoulder. {bye-bye Song-knife and touchy-knife, thank you for the treat and rubs Song-knife!}

Leliana and Selva watched amused as the young human was dragged off by the small elf who was talking a mile a minute. They shared a glance and before Leliana could blink she was in the small room Selva and her shared on the bed, Selva was still fade stepping around the room stripping both herself and Leliana while closing the door and grabbing rope and a gag along with a bell. Before she had time to react Leliana was bound to the bed and a ball gag being secured, the brass bell ball was forced into her hand with the instruction that if she wanted to stop at anytime to drop the ball as Selva would stop at once. At her nod Selva began to tease her and remind the bard who was really in charge no matter who had the bigger network, and Leliana relished being able to intrust herself fully to her soulmate and felt the weight of her burdens fall from her shoulders for a time.

* * *

Calpernia stood at her window watching the moon slowly rise over the mountains, this would be the last night she would be staying in this base for sometime. Her master had ordered her to personally oversee the death of the empress, normally this would make her happy to serve her new god but tonight it only churned her stomach. Her spies had reported that not only had the heroes of Ferelden returned with rumours of a cure now floating around, but the inquisition would be attending the event as well. She hoped that Simra would not get in the way but she knew better than that, her only hope was to try and convince her sister in magic to come to her side or at the very least not interfere with the plan.

Sighing she took a sleeping draught and laid down to bed, that night her dreams drifted back to the happiest times of her life. Trapped in the dark hold force to listen to Simra's 'lessons' when they ended she would crawl to the edge of her chains and try to comfort the sobbing elf who in turn would teach her magic and the elven tongue when her mind was her own and not clouded by drugs, the two young woman had clung to each other often in that dark hold finding comfort in a friend who did not want sex from them as they were both routinely raped while on that ship. It was because of that young elf that Calpernia fought so hard to free as many elven slaves as she could especially any from the dalish clans. Her dreams ended with the dawn and a freed dalish child waking her gently to get ready for travel to the winter palace.


	25. Chapter 25 Winter Palace

First up a huge thanks to LiberLibelula for giving me permission to use their awesome designs. Designs  
the "Campaign" is cassandra's while the "Trials" one is adaar's!  
The "Everyday" is Simra's while the "Date" is the one for josie!  
The first part of a few for the winter palace, leave a comment on your thoughts about this work.

Ch.25 The Winter Palace

(One week before the Inquisition Arrives)

The winter court stood milling around enjoying the pleasant music drifting across the ball room, everyone was keeping a half eye on the empress all as part of the game. More than a few whispers were concerning the witch standing back and to the left of the empress as both guard and arcane advisor, many in the court despised the woman who had swept in and stolen so much power. The glares were even sharper today as they had heard that Morrigan had to the empress that a great guest would be arriving on feathered wings, this along with the slight smirk she was wearing annoyed the court as they had no idea who the witch was bring and how they would arrive on wings. Maybe a trained eagle guessed one lady, non-it is a knight on a griffon whispered an old lord, a stooge wearing winged slippers said a scornful lord.

* * *

"Will this guest be arriving soon lady Morrigan?" Celene asked in a excited whisper, she had been eagerly awaiting this guest since she had seen the secret look in her mage's eyes.

"They should be here very shortly your majesty they promised that they would arrive within the hour of the noon day meal being finished, and they have never been late in arriving before." Lady Morrigan replied and that made the empress even more excited, perhaps it could be one of the heroes from the blight!

Just as she was starting to settle again there was a thunderous crash as the ballroom door were thrown open by magic, before the sound could even fade a second sound shattered the stunned silence as a massive snow white owl screeched as it passed through the doors. The great bird flew high and circled the room once before suddenly plunging for the dais, Guards quick to react fired on the great bird but the bolts simply caught fire and turned to ashes before they ever reached the great owl. Right before it would have crashed into the dais it spread its wings wide stopping its forward movement, Celene watched as it slowly settled before lady Morrigan with a regal grace. There was silence as the great owl seemed to bow before the witch who bowed in return.

"I am glad to see you safely returned to myside my lord." Morrigan said with a gentle tone that Celene had only heard when the woman spoke of her son and husband.

With a flash of golden light the owl was replaced with an elf on one knee bow to the woman before him. "No force in all of thedas could keep me from your side Ma Vhenan a moment longer than needed." The elf said and it was at that point Celene figured out who this elf was.

"We bid you welcome lord Mahariel, we are glad to see that you have returned safely from your journeys." Celene said smoothly, Taeris stood and took the few steps needed to place him in front of the empress and swept into a flawless bow.

"Please excuse me for not greeting you first your imperial grace I simply could not wait another heartbeat to greet my lady wife." Taeris said with a winning smile and a gleam in his eye told Celene that the up coming ball would be very interesting.

* * *

(Night of the winter ball.)

Cassandra groaned as the carriage neared the palace, she glanced down at her dress thankful once again that Josephine had talk the qunari and Simra out of more risqué outfits. Her outfit made of a smooth velvet in a burgundy color with black metal shin guards the outfit was tailored to look fit for a ball as much as on the battle field, her soulmates was less so fit for battle but for catching the eye at the ball it as perfect. The chest had a plunging v line with only thin red leather strings hold it up, Cassandra had asked how it stayed up given how loose the strings look and was told it was a spell woven into the dress.

"We have arrived your worship." The carriage driver said as he opened the door to let the four women out.

"Ah Herald are you ready to shock the court?" The grand duke asked as he walked up to the group.

{Let us give them a show.} Asaaranda stated and Cassandra translated for the duke, the group moved forward towards the gates of the palace.

* * *

Bethany climbed out of the second carriage walking next to Leliana Selva who were happily holding hands, Bethany walked next to her sister and Bela trying not to feel jealous at the massive number of soul-mated pairs around them. It felt petty to be jealous that they had all found love while she was still a virgin whose soul mark worried her greatly, one of the few things that the wardens had taught her in regards to language was how to read the script on her crouch that circled her lower lips.

A strange light caught her eye and she whipped around to see a woman looking down at the group with a thin layer of veil playing around her hand, the woman looked down at her and their eyes met for a second and Bethany felt a shiver run down her spine as the fire changed colors. That spell was an old elven spell Simra had been showing her at night in camp on the journey up to the palace. how did a strange woman know lost elven magic? Before she could think on it further she was dragged off by Bela.

* * *

Calpernia looked down at the group as the female mage was dragged off by the raider, Calpernia had seen the flare of recognition when she changed colors and felt a smile tug at her lips. 'So, you found another sister to teach my sister?' She thought looking at the back of the elven woman skipping beside the ambassador. She smiled slightly seeing the once tormented sister she knew so happy and full of life.

"My lady, one our spies have vanished." A spy reported from behind her, Calpernia sighed before turning and walking in and towards the ballroom.

"Which one?" She asked hoping that it was not the one she thought it might be.

"The one carrying the key and poison my lady." Calpernia remain calm on the outside but as cursing inside as someone had been killing every spy she tried to move through the palace.

"Pull back and be ready to use the arrival of the herald to allow our spies to move!" She ordered as she began moving faster towards the ballroom as she could not be away long.

"At once my lady!" The spy barked before melting into the shadows.


	26. Chapter 26 Lost no more

First up a huge thanks to LiberLibelula for giving me permission to use their awesome designs. Designs  
the "Campaign" is cassandra's while the "Trials" one is adaar's!  
The "Everyday" is Simra's while the "Date" is the one for josie!  
The first part of a few for the winter palace, leave a comment on your thoughts about this work.

Calpernia walked among the nobles as if she was one of them, none knew as anything but a noble visiting from Tevinter and that was the way she like it. The only problem was the constant having to avoid the only one here she would be like talking to, she glanced and saw Simra breeze past the waiter carrying the tiny cakes and no less than three disappeared from the tray without anyone seeing it. She saw the elf give a cake to her soulmate and the strange human mage who had seen her veilfire, after a few moment the mated pair walked off with a slight flush and Calpernia smiled both at the fact that two of the members of the enemies would be busy and that Simra had been able to ever stand touching another being after what she had been through.

"Please let me go I don't want to dance!" Calpernia turned at the slightly distressed sounding voice, turning she saw red.

"Come on a marcher like you should be honored to dance with someone like me, besides you would not be here if not for that horned bitch and her whore of a pet that knife ear!" Slurred a drunk fat noble, and the comment about Simra made Calpernia's vision go a deeper red. Making stalk over to where the mage was still struggling to get away without causing a scene.

"I am sorry but I must ask you to unhand my dance partner!" She said with bone chilling manners, the fat man whirled to glare but it turned into a lustful sneer when he saw her.

"How-bout you take her place Vint!" He said reaching only to have fire flicker up his arm, he reared back and fall over knocking himself out on the floor.

Not missing a beat Calpernia snagged the mage and dragged her towards the dance floor while signaling to her spies that the man was not to see the dawn! The mage had yet to say a word as she was dragged to the dance floor and spun into the flow, Calpernia enjoyed the feeling of this woman under her hands. After her life as a slave she could not bear to touch most men let alone have sex, but women like this one was exactly her type. After a few seconds and still no words coming from the stunned mage Calpernia smirked and decided to indulge in a moment of weakness, she darted forward and pecked the woman on the lips before whispering in the mage's ear in Trevinter's slave tongue.

^Don't worry my cute mage for my sister's sake I will not kill you here.^ she whispered sultry in the mage's ear and felt her stiffen and almost laughed at how people react to words spoken in another tongue in their ears even if they don't know what was said.

^I don't know who this sister of yours is but try it and I will show you this Hawke has sharp talons! ^ the woman whispered back into her ear and Calpernia stiffened not just from the fact that this woman spoke a language that most would never learn, but from what she said and just how well Calpernia knew those words.

^We need to talk now! I promise that I will not hurt you until I confirm something, now please come with me! ^ Calpernia begged all but dragging the woman off the dance floor and into a side room.

* * *

Simra stood beside Josie as they reentered the ballroom, Glancing around she saw something that made her double take and swear that the tiny cakes she grabbed must have had blood lotus in them. She saw two of her sisters dancing with each other, Lost-sister was leaning in to kiss and whisper to Sun-sister!? A few moments of stunned watching and she saw Lost-sister drag sun-sister off, Turning to Josie panicking she grabbed her soulmate's hand and took off after them.

[Come on ma Vhenan we have to save Sun-sister before lost-sister does something to her!] Simra was panicking badly, she did not want to have to fight her Lost-sister but she also could not stand the thought of Sun-sister getting hurt because Simra only mention the relationship she had be never showed them the drawing she had made of her.

Josie kept pace with Simra as they jogged through the twisting halls in search of the pair, Simra reached out to the fade and let out a small whistle calling to her friends on the other side to find them. They followed the wisp that answered the call, when the wisp stopped at a door Simra stopped and used muffling magic to hide their presence. Simra knew just how powerful her Lost-sister was and did not want to risk a large fight, with a quick few hand movements with her picks the lock opened and the pair entered room and Simra's mind broke at what she saw and she passed out, hitting the floor with a thud.

* * *

Josephine entered the room silently behind Simra, glad that she had taken Simra up on her offer to help train her bard skills back up to ease Simra's worry whenever she was away, they entered the room and while Josie had no idea what she was expecting it was not what they found. The two women that they had chased into the room were now both top less with Bethany pinned to the wall by Calpernia, with her legs wrapped around the woman's waist making out hard and plainly ignoring the world. She was shocked but Simra made a small noise drawing Josie's attention away from the pair of mages in time to watch her soulmate hit the floor with a dull thud, Josie shrieked and dove for her soulmate.

[Simra! Are you alright?!] Josie nearly yelled panicking that her soulmate might be hurt.

^Move!^ An accented voice barked and moved Josie off her mate and a warm fiery glow of healing magic like her soulmate's spread over the small elf.

It took a second for it to click that, the woman had spoken in the slave tongue of Tevinter, Another look had Josie blushing ant turning away as the two woman now checking on her soulmate were still naked from the waist up! After a moment both mages sighed with relief as the elf started to stir, Josie force the woman off her soulmate hoping to prevent a relapse.

[Josie? Simra had a strange dream, Lost-sister and Sun-sister were making out?! Simra really should not have had that last tiny cake!] Simra pouted as she shook her head and Josie smiled.

[It was not a dream my love, it really happened and they are putting their tops back on right now!] She directed the last part at the human mages with a glare as they rushed to cover themselves.

Simra stood up and raised her hand and lit a ball of veilfire in front of her Lost-sister, slowly it began flashing through several light patterns before she let it fade and Calpernia repeated the motion with a different pattern of colors. The other two were highly confused, even Bethany had never seen that pattern before and thus could not guess the meanings.

[Is lost-sister still lost?] Simra asked, and Calpernia turned to look at Bethany for a long moment before walking over and standing in front of the mage.

^Am I still lost or have I finally found a home in the nest of a lady Hawke? ^ Calpernia asked.

^If you side with us then yes you have a home, otherwise while it would hurt beyond anything else I would fight you and your master. ^ Bethany said solemnly, and Calpernia smiled darting in for a quick peck before turning back to Simra and Josie saw the bright smile on her face.

[I am lost no more my dear sister.] The words had barely left Calpernia's mouth before Simra was flying into her arms hugging her and crying as she clung to the woman, and after a moment Calpernia join in the sobbing while the two clings to each other as if the world would rip them apart.


	27. Chapter 27

The work i mention in this story is over on 'acrhieveofourown' Chapter 27: Dances behind curtains

Summary:

Please put your hands together to welcome our lovely guests for this chapter and hopefully more in the future Amethyne and Morgana, they have come to us from a far away land and AU written by a friend.

Notes:

So first and for most a very big thanks to my friend TheTrueFro  
for letting me put his two of his characters into my story, the work of his is Like mother, like daughter  
a great work and one of my favs to read.  
So without dragging this on any further a due lights camera action and on with the show!

Chapter Text

Ch.27 The dance behind curtains.

Leliana leaned against a wall watching the Herald glide among the nobles leaving jealous whores and worshipers in her wake, the woman with Cassandra at her said showed herself to be very good and gathering followers. Leliana smiled at the sights and sounds of the party despite the danger they were in she was happy to be playing again, for her the only thing that could make it better would be if her whole family was here and as if summoned by that thought her sister in law appeared.

"Well songstress your herald is quite impressive, I would like a chance to compare notes on magic should I have a chance." Morrigan said drew level with Leliana.

"Velvet? I knew that would look good on you!" Leliana teased, Morrigan just scowled at her before smiling and remarking.

"Yes, my husband thought it would suit me and he said it would be 'amusing' how I put up with that man some days is beyond me." Leliana laughed at that knowing that under her complaining that Morrigan would no more leave Taeris than Taeris would cut off his own hand.

Leliana felt a hand grab her ass. "An agent found something that you and my sister along with the herald and seeker need to see, meet me in the servant's quarters garden." The hand vanished with her soulmate, Leliana smiled at how despite wielding a sword and shield the twins could out match most rouges in stealth and she filled Morrigan in and moved to collect the herald and seeker.

Asaaranda walked out into the quarters and felt magic stir as the warden twins appeared with a corpse between them, Cassandra frowned next to her and Asaaranda seconded that feeling the twins looked grim. Before anyone could speak the doors opened again and out walked Simra with Bethany and a woman Asaaranda knew from the memories in the fade she had seen with Simra, Taeris drew his sword and shield and move to face the newcomers.

"You better have a good reason for being here vint!" Growled the mage, magic flaring along his blade as it started to glow.

{Veil-sister is on Simra's side now! She found her soulmate and it is Sun-sister!} Asaaranda stopped cold at the words, before bursting out laughing.

{I knew that you were a skirt chaser Sunshine, no matter how good the archer was you only chased those you did not have to worry about fucking!} Bethany flushed at that and Calpernia snickered along with Asaaranda.

"While this is touching and all we have I larger problem namely the assassin that is currently planning to murder the empress." Calpernia said and everyone turned to her.

"Wait aren't you the assassin?" Selva asked, Calpernia just shook her head.

"I was sent to over see the plan success not carry it out, the grand duchess is the assassin. However, while I am on your side now I will say this I would still that bitch for what she has done." Calpernia stated.

"While I am against killing royalty most of the time… wait no I am not, anyway she is not wrong that bitch needs to die for her crimes against the elves alone if nothing else!" Taeris said as he sheathed his sword.

{I agree, in that case we will need two things for my idea to work. First Simra take Calpernia and find someway to convince Briala to work with us, we will need her spies and skills soon enough. Pirates go and see if you can find something that will get Gaspard under our thumb, the rest of us will keep our eyes out and be ready to grab the duchess the moment Celine is dead.} Asaaranda said and Cassandra glowered but nodded seeing the logic in the plan.

"Alright sister let us good perform some thievery and slaughter, Vint call off all the spies that will be willing to join the inquisition." Taeris said before letting out a sharp whistle, Asaaranda watched as two figures melted out of the shadows.

Cassandra watched the two figure walked out of the shadows and the armored elf of the pair ran over to Leliana and hugged her tight. "Mama!" Cassandra blinked shocked at the woman's actions.  
"Greetings my little gem, what are you doing here?" Leliana asked, while Selva walked up and hug the pair while that human mage stood off to the side.

Cassandra took a closer look at the mage and saw something that made her see red. The woman had a scar on the right side of her face that started at her temple, went through her eyebrow over her eye, and down to her chin but what grabbed and held the seeker's attention was the pure black Templar mark on the left side of her face. Cassandra had been one of the seekers to investigate a tower in Ostwick several years ago, when a mysterious letter arrived detailing the tortures there, when she and the other seeker found out that the rumours were true every Templar there had been put to death and the mages were sent to other towers. The mark had been the last straw for herself and the other seeker when they had held trial for the Templars. A few other scars peaked out from the top of her shirt but they weren't as easy to spot. The sight of this young woman made Cassandra's hair stand on edge, just how did a mage from that hellish tower come to be serving a feared pirate, she knew that the Templars of that tower had been the best hunters out there.

"Come on Morgana you are family too." Selva said pulling the young mage in to the hug as well, Cassandra notice with a slight blush that the mage had just grabbed the tit of the young elf.

"Touching and all sister but if you are done, we should head out now. Come along my dear first mate niece and my lead spell whipper student, we have corpses to clean up, things to steal, people to relieve of their lives and fun to be had. Maybe not in that order though, that being said I better not catch you two snogging or fucking until after our job is done." Taeris remarked and his wife snickered quietly.

"Yes, uncle we will make sure that you don't catch us!" the woman elf snarked while the human blushed.

{Find Tale-spinner and take him with you, he will be useful in finding blackmail.} Asaaranda ordered and the group split up to complete their tasks.

As she passed Bethany she leaned in and whispered. "I am happy for you, and I am glad that you convinced her to join us. From what Simra told me she is very powerful and will be a great ally and teacher for you." Bethany smiled at Cassandra, the seeker had taken to trying to be something similar to a mother to those her soulmate basically adopted and had found joy in it.

{Song-knife?} Simra skipped up to Leliana and smiled sweetly as a knife appeared in her hands and pressed against the bard's throat. {Why does Song-knife's daughter soulmate bare that brand?} her sweet voice never changed.

"Selva and Taeris found out the truth about the tower when morgana escaped and came across their path, after that they took her in and Taeris all but adopted her as his student and they kept her safe from Templars ever since." Leliana stated calmly looking Simra in the eyes.  
{Oh! Good otherwise Simra might have had to cut your pretty eyes out for letting harm come to those blessed! Bye-bye Song-knife tell touchy-knife and wing-dancer thank you for helping get rid of those monsters!} with that the elf dragged her old sister mage off to speak with the elven ambassador.


	28. Chapter 28 Throne changes hands

The work i mention in this story is over on 'acrhieveofourown' Chapter 27: Dances behind curtains

Notes:

So first and for most a very big thanks to my friend TheTrueFro  
for letting me put his two of his characters into my story, the work of his is Like mother, like daughter  
a great work and one of my favs to read.  
So without dragging this on any further a due lights camera action and on with the show!

Ch.28 Throne Changes Hands

Simra walked through the ballroom towards the balconies with Calpernia on her right flank, Simra could not stop smiling at the thought that her lost sister had returned and was now on her side. The pair passed through the doors and saw the masked elf standing there waiting for them, Simra smiled at the woman and drew closer as the mage pair cast wards of silence around them without a word.

{Aneth ara Lethallan.} Simra said magic coating her voice.

"Am I a cousin to you dalish? I thought your kind dislike us flat ears?" Calpernia bristled at the tone, but Simra laid a hand on the mage calming her.

{Some clans may not welcome your kind, but Simra and her clan before they died always said that not matter the way of life or worship we are the elvethn and should embrace each other. How else can we grow and build to the future if we do not learn from both each other and the past?} Simra asked with a head tilt and smirked slightly at the shocked look on the masked elf.

"While I welcome debates more than most we have more pressing matters to discuss right now, Briala we desire to see Celene brought to justice from her crimes against the elves and the down trodden. But before that can happen we need to know, if we get the blackmail needed to control Gaspard would you be willing to be our agent and holder of his leash?" Calpernia asked smoothly, Briala looked at them both closely.

"And just what would you need me to do should I agree?" the elf asked cautiously, Simra smiled on the inside knowing that mask-elf was already caught but did not know it yet.

{Support the inquisition and work on returning the dales and graves to the elves!} she chirped enjoying the shocked look.

"Well then If you can make it happen you have my word that I will give all the aid I can to your order and work to better the lives of all elves, but a question first. Calpernia were you not against the inquisition?" Briala asked.

"yes, but I found my soulmate Bethany and my long-lost sister in all but blood Simra here so how could I turn my power against them?" Briala nodded sagely before the pair of mages bid her farewell, moving away to return to the party.

* * *

Varric trailed behind the trio of elves and the human mage, he saw the relationship between them in second of meeting them. The younger girls were so clearly in love it would have been too sweet if it was not for the fact that they seemed to be trying to find any excuse to feel each other up, after finding the merc captain the group started to clean up the bodies.

"Say Broody bird?" Varric called to the only other male.

"Broody bird really?" Taeris asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah I can't call you just broody as that is taken but you seem to have a thing for being a bird." Varric explained.

"Fine what do you want dwarf?" Varric smiled at the tone.

"well what do you think is going to happen with the wardens?" Varric asked while he dragged a corpse into a corner.

"Who knows, those fools will drive themselves into ruin or they will be dragged to safety kicking and screaming by us." He said and Varric caught the edge of something.

"I take it you are not fond of the wardens?" Varric got an answer in the form of a sharp bark of cruel laughter from both twins.

"The warden commander who recruited us did so by breaking up a tavern brawl and dragging us off to join without a some much as a by your leave, it was only when we threatened to kill him in his sleep did he let us gather our belongings from the ship and explain to our captain.

"So no we don't like the heavy handed style, they are to focused on saying that they know best to listen to reason. Besides as soon as it was safe to do so we left them and have been on the run of sorts ever since as the first warden took issue with us returning to our happy life." Varric could see now where blondie has gotten strong dislike of the wardens.

They finished the cleaning silence before heading back to the party to deliver the blackmail to sparks, they arrived just as the inner circle was gathering nearby to prep for the assassination. The mages were watching the duchess closely, Varric knew that the poor woman was not going to get far after killing the empress.

* * *

Vivienne watched as the empress stood to deliver her speech, she was unhappy with the decision to let Celene die but understood the goals in mind here so she kept quiet. As the duchess killed the empress the other mages and herself moved each fade stepping from their spots, the duchess began to try and frame Gaspard when Calpernia stepped forward.

"Don't try and blame your brother in this, you did this for Corypheus not your brother. I am ashamed that I ever believed you or the elder one could bring this world peace, now I see that you will only sow war and destroy this world. Surrender now and be tried fairly in open court or resist and die, tis your choice." Calpernia said sweeping from the crowd to stand at the base of the stairs, despite herself the speech impressed Vivienne.

"Never WHORE! Venatori Kill her!" Nothing happened when the duchess screamed, Calpernia laughed coldly and Vivienne smiled at the performance this vint was making.

"You fool, did you forget in your arrogance who my agents serve primarily." Calpernia smirked as she snapped her fingers and the agents melted out of the shadows to block every escape route.

"Long live the elder one!" the Duchess screamed and smashed a smoke flask, darting out of it dressed in rouge armor straight for the herald.

The herald Vivienne saw only raised an eyebrow mockingly at the woman, just as the duchess was about to slash the qunari with her wickedly sharp knives two blurring shadows appeared. The shadows landed on the duchess driving the woman to the ground, the shadows vanished to reveal the warden twins.

The twins were pinning the duchess down with their diamond kite shields crushing her arms while their rune etched arcane warrior blades nailed her to the floor through her shoulder blades, the Herald nodded thanks to them and turned to the crowd with a magic laced voice spoke to the nobles gathered.

{I am sorry that we failed to reach the empress in time to save her, but the inquisition will not let her death be in vain. Could the ambassador and the grand duke join me on the terrace to finish the talks?} Without waiting to receive a reply the herald left with the seeker and the bard mistress at her side, this forced the other parties to rush to keep up.

* * *

Varric was walking down the halls looking for Vines to tell her that the servants had just brought out some of those tiny chocolate cakes she likes, just as he was about to round a corner an end table flew through the air and smashed against the wall. Varric frozen hand straying to Bianca when a magic laced voice scream in rage.

{Those cakes are Simra's you Shem Whore!} the sound followed this was another table shattering, Varric slowly crept around the corner and froze at the odd scene before him.

Sera and Snark were crouched off to the side clearly hiding from the now weaponized end tables, the ones fighting were Morgana and Vines who both glowed with magic power. They were too busy shouting insults and curse at each other between tossing tables and books with make to notice him, looking up he saw kid sitting in the rafters holding a tray of the rum laced chocolate cakes.

"Varric! Get over here!" Sera hissed, and Varric crawled to join them after ducking another flying table.

"What happened!" He hissed when he got under cover, Sera and Snark shared a look.

"Well turns out two mages that love chocolate and are possessive about it don't mix well with acholic laced treats in a finite amount." Snark explained.

"You think! This is your fault for telling them to just fight it out when they were both drunk off sweets, and now I can't even get drunk to enjoy this because were trapped and creepy ran off with the tray in an attempt to get them to stop." Sera snapped glaring at snark who looked sheepish. Another end table smashes into the wall above them.

"Quit moving and eat this table, bitch!" Morgana yells as Simra continues to avoid them.

"If there is none left why are they still fighting?" Varric asked, and Snark sighed before pointing to an untouched trio of cakes sitting on a platter in between the waring mages.

"Great and Ruffles is off playing the game while the seeker and Sparks are off fucking in another wing, guess we wait until something happens." Varric sighed as he grabbed a book from the floor that look half way interesting and settled in for a long wait as the pair showed no signs of stopping or slowing down anytime soon.


	29. Chapter 29

Ch.29 back home again.

Taeris was wandering the corridors looking for a place to take a brief break and catch up on his reading, when the sounds of tables smashing and curses both magical and otherwise reached him. He sighed knowing that the one voice belonged to his favourite student he turned and headed towards the sounds, while he walked towards the source he wove his magic to shield himself and get ready to smack heads together.

He rounded the corner in time for the last intact table to smash itself against his shield spells, growling at the sate of his favourite napping spot he lashed out with his magic smashing both warring mages in the far wall. There was dead silence as everyone in the room turned to look at the now glowing mage, Morgana and Amethyne paled at the appearance of their captain.

"Someone better have a very good fucking reason as to why a table just tried to murder me!" both members of his crew flinched at the sound of his voice.

"Morgana and Simra were both drunk and I kind of joked they should just fight it out as to who gets the last of the cakes." Amethyne said meekly, Taeris sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling as if there were answers there.

"Alright I have had a long day and don't want to deal with this shit right now, Heralds crew go find some where else to be. I am taking the cakes as payment for this shit, my crew given how well you did on the job today I am going to be nice and forget that I was ever here.

"But I want you two as far from this wreck as possible, go fuck in a noble's bed or something hell strip and do it in the middle of the ball room for all I care but you Two are cleaning my knives tomorrow and I mean all of them." With that and a quick spell to grab the cakes Taeris spun on his heels and left.

"Shit and I thought sparks was scary when she was mad!" Varric said as he grabbed the drunk Simra and began hauling her off.

"You have no fucking idea!" Morgana groaned as she dug herself out of the wall, turning to her soulmate she grabbed her around the shoulders leaning on her and whispered. "It is your fault that I am out of chocolate, so get your ass to our room sweetie so you can pay me back." Amethyne blushed at that but helped the drunk mage to their room.

* * *

The next morning Simra woke up with a head that pounded worse than anything she had ever felt. [What hit Simra last night?] Simra groaned into her pillow, she was not hungover she knew that as her magic was not twitching.

[According to Varric Taeris hit you last night, nearly putting you through a wall as well. I saw the crater it was rather large.] Josie said calmly, Simra flinched knowing that tone meant she was in trouble.

[How many?] Simra asked with a little bit of fear, Josie did not ask what she meant only ran her nails down her soulmate's back.

[Given the headache you must have? I will be nice three bare or six with pants, what will it be?] Simra whined pitifully, but knew that it had been her idea to use what had once haunted her sleep in the bedroom and in life to get over it by having Josie do it.

[Bare?] [Bare what?] [Bare please mistress.] Simra said sliding her ass off the bed before pushing her pants and smalls off as Josie fetched the riding crop.

[What is the word?] Josie asked making sure Simra remembered the safe word.

[velvet.] [Good count them for me.] she said before the first one smacked her ass leaving a bright red strip.

[one mistress.] this went on until the count was over.

[there we go, no lets put some lotion on that and begin packing.] Simra nodded and Josie kissed her on the lips before speaking again.

[Are you sure this is what you want Ma vhenan, your nightmares do not bother me. I do not want you trying to change for me not if it hurts you.] Josie said, but Simra was shaking her head before silencing her was a brief kiss.

[Simra want to break the chains and show that Simra is Simra's own and that my past does not bind me and that I trust you to keep me safe.] making Josie smile as her words.

[In that case I think you are dress as much as you need to be for packing my dear.] Simra flushed and nodded.

By mid morning the group was traveling back to skyhold with the warden twins and Morrigan coming with them, the girls from Taeris's crew had left with to meet up with Hawke and help keep watch on the wardens in the wastes. The group would be holding off on attacking the fort until the forces could gather so it was time for a well deserved break for the inner circle.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Dragon hunter's gift (1 of 2)

Summary:

Cullen does something very stupid and it ends with Simra drunker than a skunk, oh and head-cannon for this chapter is that Asaaranda is a very talkative drunk near Simra and that is why she knows what she knows.

Notes:

Note this is the tamer of the parts and the next chapter is a small bit of fluff and being and end and pure smut for the rest, you have been warned. Also once again sorry if you like Cullen or anything but him, anders from da2 (Not da:o he was cool then!), blackwall and alistar(Character not the comment in this series they are awesome!) are on my hit list as they piss me off. that being said the idea for this chapter came out of talks with Alistair_LaetusLupusFF about a mini fic series i am planning about Sparks and hawke along with Cassandra's origins, i tried writing it and was looking over some iron bull romance scenes and dialogue when this shit popped into my head(The harness is a strap-on for women to use so they can have a fake cock while fucking(Sorry if my language offends you here.)). so you have been warned, if you dont like smut and such skim over it as there will be some things plot related mixed in.

if you want to see these 'talks' they are in the comments on chapter 28.

Chapter Text

Ch.29 the dragon hunter's gift.

"Seeker! Come drink with us, we need someone to help stop Vines from Cullen into a cat and feeding him to a mabari!" Cassandra sighed and knew that her day was going to be very strange when the iron bull yelled that to her the moment she walked into the tavern.

{Don't stop Simra! Help Simra, Fur-collar deserves it for not knocking and upsetting Josie!} Simra yelled from the rafters where she was dangling upside holding a mug that was full.

{Simra, what did I say about hanging from the rafters?} Cassandra called out signaling Bull to fill her a mug, she was going to need it to deal with a drunk Simra.

{Not to do while drunk?} came the meek voice as the elf fell with the grace of a cat, spinning mid air to land on the balls of her feet.

That illusion was ruined with the fact that she landed on the table Cassandra had just sat at, before losing her balance and landing in the lap of Cassandra who raise an eyebrow at the clearly drunk elf. Said elf smiled and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before curling up on the seeker's lap and passing out, sighing the seeker took the drink from the sleeping elf's hand and downed it in one shot.

"So what did Cullen do this time?" Cassandra asked the chargers who were sitting at the table, Dalish and skinner sat on either side of her and spread the sleeping elf on all their laps to ease the burden.

"Curly walked in on Vines and ruffles having fun and Ruffles has been lock in the tower with Leliana all morning now and wont come down or look anyone besides Leliana in the eyes." Varric said coming down the stairs with sera where they had been stopping Simra from falling to her death.

"Was it so bad, I doubt that Ruffles would be that upset or curly locking himself in that shite tower of his and not looking at anyone with tits if it was just a normal tumble?" Sera said flopping on a bench.

"From what I got out of her before she got into my good stuff, still surprised she is only asleep after that much." The iron bull mutter that last part.

"Anyway, turns out that Vines here has been taking pages out of Asaaranda's play book." Cassandra flushed deeply trying to figure out what he was talking about, the look on her face made bull start laughing.

"Ha the seeker knows, tell me who wears the harness between the two of you." Cassandra's jaw dropped at his comment.

"H-How do you know about that, we have never taken it with us on trips!?" She slapped her hands over her mouth realizing what she just said, that drink of Simra's had more kick than she thought.

"Your shitting me! I was joking so who wears it, I know that Asaaranda like being worn and wearing it. I can say that she had skill with it too!" Cassandra blushed and at the looks the chargers and Varric were giving her she knew they knew what bull was talking about.

{Seeker-mommy and Asaara-mommy take turns, Seeker-mommy likes to do front wearing but loves it more when Asaara-mommy bends her over a basin and fucks her ass hard!} Simra said loudly before trying to roll over and would have fall to the floor if the elves had not caught her as Cassandra was blushing to hard to think.

"Vines, way too much information!" Varric said looking away clearly uncomfortable, while sera choked on her drink finally realising just what the harness was.

"Might we move on now!" Cassandra growled glaring at bull who nodded, smirking at her.

"Right anyway Cullen apparently walked in on Josie helping Simra deal with her traumas by re-enacting them with Josie to overwrite the bad memories, an old fear over-coming trick from the qun." The group winced at the thought of what Simra must have felt when Cullen walked in.

"Gets worse Cullen started yelling at Ruffles about how it was an act that spit in the face of the maker all while Simra was still done up, after he left Ruffles cut Simra free then ran off crying." Bull looked down at the elf and frown. "I caught her before she made it to his tower, I made the choice hangover for her or the inquisition needing to find a commander."

"Well it did not work bull, we are still going to need a new one!" Growled Cassandra as she stood up after moving her daughter off her lap, Varric and Sera followed with Cole appearing just as they left the tavern.

"Not going to stop them chief?" Krem asked as Bull picked up the limp form of Simra and began carrying her to the spy master's tower.

"Nah, curly built his own pyre this time. besides I would have done it but I decided to keep this one safe." The chargers nodded before starting to take bets on how long Cullen had left to live.

Several days later Cassandra found herself along with Bull Varric and Sera in the hitherlands, Vivienne had been sent to make sure that Sera stayed put after Cullen's tower had been some up turned upside down while Cullen had been trying to escape the Seeker's wrath.  
The mages were still trying to get Cullen's desk off his ceiling, Cassandra for her part had been sent to help deal with the dragon problem while Cullen got lessons on knocking and what he was allowed to say in regards to his thoughts on the chant and maker. The others had been sent for their parts in the debacle, no one had tried to take Cole as he was the won who was helping Simra deal with her past.

"Bull I have noticed that dragons seem to matter a great deal to the qunari, is there a reason?" Cassandra asked as they sat around the campfire resting before the dragon hunt tomorrow.

"No that I know of, I just know that a lot of us get off on fighting them. Asaaranda especially, damn I have never seen that woman hornier than after we fought that one dragon back in the qun." Bull sighed at the memory and Cassandra flushed at being remined that Bull had known her soulmate for a long time.

"Now that I look back I remember it was a small dragon so I think if we kill a high one then seeker you're not walking the next day." He said smirking.

"Are there any parts of the dragon that is considered sacred?" Cassandra asked thinking of maybe getting a trophy for Asaara, as they were coming up on nearly a half a year now.

"The only thing I know of is a dragon tooth would be split and turned into necklaces for a couple that was close or soulmates, that way wherever they were they would be together." Bull says, then snaps his clawed fingers.

"Oh that reminds me of this one talk Adaar and I had after killing the dragon, she said she loved the idea of the tooth necklace. But here is where she shocked me, apparently, she was to receive one but not give one.

"No idea why really something about how she did not want to pressure but loved the romance of the idea, then she ruined the moment by talking bout making the horn of the same dragon into a strap-on to 'fuck like a dragon' as she put it." Cassandra flushed and decided it was time for bed, but as she lay trying to sleep she thought about what bull said and an idea formed in her mind.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31: dragon hunter's gift

Summary:

the non smut section of the this section.

Notes:

the next chapter will be pure smut due to the length on the chapter I decided to break it up, I will keep as much plot pushing parts out of the mext chapter as i can, that said I will stat what sections have plot info in the next chapter at the start.

Chapter Text

Ch.31 Dragon hunter's gift (P2 of 2)

Cassandra walked down the stairs of the undercroft looking for Dagna, they had just returned from the hitherlands and while she just wanted a nice bath with Asaara she knew that she had to act fast. Luckily the arcanist was in and had just started to un pack the dragon remains they had brought with them.

"Dagna may I have a minute?" Cassandra asked glad that it was only the two of them and the black smith was out at the moment.

"Sure, what do you need?" Dagna asked eyes shining.

"Well I wanted you to make some things for me from the dragon remains." Cassandra began but was cut off.

"Sorry seeker, I would but Asaaranda needs to approve all uses of tier four materials. Unless you have permission, I can't." the arcanist winced at the end.

"It is a pair of gifts for her, and I hunted the dragon and landed the killing blow so I should be allowed to claim some as trophies." Cassandra countered and saw a strange gleam appear in the arcanist's eyes.

"Well working with those, who could blame me? Alright seeker what do you need?" Cassandra sighed in relief before blushing beat red and reaching into the messenger bag she was carrying, she pulled out three items from it.

Cassandra heard Dagna choked when the first item was pulled out, the sound made her blush even harder as she laid the strap-on atop the table followed quickly by two scrolls. The arcanist lunged for the scrolls and dropped the first on as if it was on fire, and cooed at the sight of the drawing on the second one.

"What do you want that one made of?" Dagna gestured to the scroll on the table, Cassandra's blush had been fading but now returned.

"Dragon horn for the main piece and bone for the buckles with webbing for the straps, and can you enchanter it?" Cassandra watched as the unease flew from the arcanist's eyes to be replace with a manic gleam, the next hour was filled with Dagna asking a lot of very  
uncomfortably personal questions followed by a very embarrassing measuring session.

Cassandra made sure that it was clear that the dwarf was not to speak about this to anyone or Cassandra would be testing how far Dagna's catapults could throw her, Dagna chased her out saying she wanted to get this done soon as this would be a fun challenge. Cassandra left but only after being assured that since Dagna had been commissioned to forge a new set of armor and blades for Asaaranda that she knew how to make the runes and enchantments work with the qunari's magic.

Asaaranda had notice something about her soulmate over the few days since her return from dragon hunting, she had become almost skittish around Asaaranda along with spending a large amount of time in the undercroft. She was planning to confront her about this when a scout ran up to the qunari informing her that the seeker was requiring her presence in their rooms for the afternoon.

Frowning she thanked the scout and made her was to the room, on her was to the main hall she saw bull training with Krem who wave at her. Bull for his part smirked and somehow even with only one eye managed to give the impression of winking to her, this made her hair stand on end as clearly Bull knew something she did not.

After she got to her room she found a simple note on it instructing her to remove everything but her smalls, change into the red velvet dress in the bag and come up the stairs, after stripping inside the entrance of the room she went up.

{Ataashi? What is this?} She called as she climbed that stairs and got her answer in the form of Cassandra sitting there in her simple black holding a small box with a larger one beside her.

{I had Dagna make these for me so I hope you like them.} Cassandra said as she got up and pulled her soulmate over to sit on a small couch. {Open this one first, I hope you like it and if bull was messing with mess I will kill him!} Asaara raised an eyebrow at the last part, warily taking the box she unwrapped it.

Opening the lid of the polished Cherrywood box her mind ground to a stop, nestled inside the box was two halves of a dragon tooth carved so that when locked together they made a complete model of the Fereldan frost back's head. Cassandra reached over a took one of the halves and Asaara saw that both had been made into the pendants of a pair of chokers, after that she put it on herself and took the second one and looked her dead in the eye and asked.

{Will you marry me in the eye of the maker and accept this tooth so that wherever we are we will never be apart?} Asaara saw the fear of rejection in her soulmate's eyes, this made her heart ache with happiness as she answered.

{You need not ask my heart, I have always been yours since the moment you spoke those words to me in haven. Of course, I will marry you and wear your gift with pride!} the smile on Cassandra's face made everything that had happened in her life worth it.

{Now what is in the other box?} She purred and Cassandra blushed beet red and after putting the choker on Asaara thrust the second box into her lap and looked away.

Looking in the box she saw some new toys that had the scent of magic enchanting and dragons, the box contained items that made her raise her brows. {Dagna insisted on making more than I had asked for! I only asked for the strap-on!}

Inside the box was the strap-on that had runes pulsing with magic in the shape of the dragon it had come from, also inside was things that made Asaara grin and Cassandra flush even harder while smiling. A set of cuffs for both wrist and feet made from dragon webbing, a ball gag made with bone for the ball, a small but loud bell nestled in a smaller box and a pair of gloves made with fine scale and webbing with claws at the end made from the claws of the dragon. With a quick kiss Asaara picked up the box and her soulmate before carrying her over to the bed.


	32. Chapter 32 smut

r

Chapter 32: Smut pure Smut

Summary:

this is all but pure smut, for those turned off by that you can safely skip this chapter. the tags are as follows for this chapter.  
Smut! bondage, strap-ons, cummilings, magic enhanced sex, smuty use of templar talents.

enough of the warnings and on with the smut.

Ch.32 Fun with dragon parts. ;)

Cassandra hit the bed and bounced lightly, when she felt the box land next to her she looked up to see Asaaranda slipping the gloves on with care and tightening them slowly while staring into Cassandra's eyes. She flexed the gloves once before they lit up with a glow the same colour as her lightning, Cassandra watched transfixed as her soulmate used the claws to cut away the velvet dress and the smalls underneath before reaching for her.

The moment the gloves touched her bare skin she felt a light tingling and moaned when the claws began slowly cutting her dress away, she was glad she had forgone the smalls as by the end she was shivering from the pleasurable tingle of the sparks. Her eye fluttered open to see the smirk on her soulmate's face as she brought up the gag.

{What are the safeties?} Asaara purred in her ears running the claws gently over her nipples, making her moan.

{Red for stop, yellow for slow, green more when I can sp-speak!} She stuttered when a claw started tracing designs near her cunt.

{And?} followed with a light pinch. {Drop the bell to stop and check.}{Good girl now open wide!} Cassandra felt a rush between her legs as the gag slipped between her teeth and the gag was tightened.

The moment she had a good grip on the bell she was rolled over sharply and pulled so that her stomach was on the bed, while her now dripping cunt and ass hung over the bed. The gloves now suffused with an unnatural warmth grabbed her wrists and locked them to each other with cuffs, her legs were spread with a foot. As she sat on the bed a blindfold was tied over her eyes followed by the sound of Asaara stepping into the new strap on.

{where do you want it? one nod for cunt two for ass.} two nods. {I thought as much relax, and let's see just how wet you are.} a now cold finger ran over her cunt making her scream and Asaara chuckle deeply as she began spreading the fluids from Cassandra's cunt on her ass to loosen her.

Asaara grabbed Cassandra by the hair and pulled it back with a tenderness that should have been out of place but felt right, it made Cassandra feel safe in the hands of this woman and she felt her worries slipping away as the warm pulsing rod started to ease into her ass slowly spreading her. Every thrust brought it deeper and deeper until she was able to feel the harness's cool straps contrasting the hot rod.

{Dagna works miracles, I can feel you Ataashi and you feel fucking great!} Asaara rumbled in her ears as the qunari laid herself over the seeker, an arm appeared in the corner of her eye as she felt a frosty set of claws grab her left breast and pull her against the warm body of her soulmate.

Then she felt her start to really thrust and moaned wontedly. The temperatures suddenly switched the claws becoming warm while the false cock buried in her suddenly cooled making her scream as the switch sent her over the edge. While she was shaking she dimly felt Asaara helping her down from it.

{How did it feel to be fuck by an Ataashi's horn while you were helpless?} Asaar purred as the cuff slipped off.

Cassandra smirked as she turned over and grabbed Asaara's horns pulling her to the seeker's cunt. {Great, clean me up and I will show you that there is one more trick that this dragon can do!}

Asaar purred at the words and bent her head to lap up the fluid, enjoying the taste she felt a rush of liquid heat as she cleaned her lover. Slowly she worked her way up the body of her soulmate until she reached the breast and began sucking on one while her hands worked on the other. After a few moments of attention, she felt her horns tugged and moaned while gently removing herself.

{Hands.} Was all her Ataashi said and at once Asaaranda obeyed, once her hands were locked with the cuffs to the head board her Ataashi moved away.

A black silk blindfold was tied on and the world vanished from her sight, she heard the buckles of the harness being done up and the gloves being secured in place. The first touch of the claws made her flinch and that got her a light chuckle.

{Don't worry I promise you have never felt anything like this before!} that was the only warning she had before the clawed hand was laid gently on her stomach, at once she felt a strange feeling as her magic writhed at the touch.

As the hand trailed over her body the strange feeling followed as her magic was thrown into chaos as it was supressed wherever the hand was, the caused her remaining magic to rush in trying to fill the void. When the hand moved, the magic surged back causing a strange but fucking great pulse of pleasure to follow the hands.

She was so focused on the feel of the hands she did not notice the dragon horn being lined up and slowly eased inside her, just as her nipples were pinched and released her Ataashi flared the horn to life as she quickly pulled out and hilted herself again. Asaara screamed in pleasure as she climaxed turning her black world white for a moment.

{Looks like you enjoyed that!} Cassandra purred into Asaara's ear causing her to shiver as she came down from her climax, the blindfold slid off and Asaara found herself staring into love filled eyes as Cassandra slowly started to move again.

After another climax her magic was starting to thrash and become painful from the flux, Asaara tried to grit her teeth but the pain was building. She hated to ruin the fun as it had taken a lot to get her Ataashi to confess her desire to do this but nothing could be done as it was becoming too much.

{Arvaarad.} was all she said and at once Cassandra was out of her and the hands power fade and the cuffs undone quickly, and looking at her with concern.

While Cassandra used the colors for hers Asaaranda used words from the past, Arvaarad was her word for full stop at once, she used Templar for slow and Karataam for more. Smiling she reached up and cupped her loves face, rubbing the sharp cheek bones gently.

{Peace my Ataashi, I would love to go on but my magic is starting to thrash and it was abit too much. But we just need to stop more often next time so I can take something to sooth the mana, now let us clean up and go to bed.} Asaaranda whispered into the seeker's ear.  
After cleaning up, as they laid in bed Asaaranda remembered something. {You know that when Josie finds out about the engagement she will want to help plan it?} Cassandra tensed at the words.

{I forgot, please tell me that the qun has a marriage ceremony that we can use?} Cassandra begged.

{None sadly, that means a Nevarran wedding is in our future.} Cassandra groaned as she burrowed into Asaara's shoulder, Asaaranda chuckled as rubbed her soulmate's back as they drifted off to sleep. While a raven landed in the rockery carrying word that the forces were ready to head out, meaning the assault was on and they would be leaving in three days time.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Last Minute Arrivals

Chapter Text

Ch.33 Last Minute Arrivals.

Sera and Vivienne were standing on top of the walls with Sera held in Vivienne's around her waist, neither said a word as they watched the dawn slowly approaching. Sera's nightmares had been coming with such violence and frequency that they had gone to Simra for help, Simra had told them that what she was seeing was possible futures. Simra had given Sera lessons on how to dispel the dreams but that did little to ease the nerves the elf felt.

She was starting to drift off warm and safe in her noble's arms where her archer eyes saw something that had her snapping awake, a force was marching on Skyhold! She rushed to the edge and grabbed a spyglass from the guard standing there in shock, she looked for the flags and when she saw them she was left confused and relieved.

"Vivie! Did Vines or Sparks mention that there merc buddies were coming for a visit?" She called to her soulmate.

"Vivienne, and no they did not. But we are leaving tomorrow so I cant imagine why they would be having visitors now, how large is the group?" the noble's smooth silk voice answered as she drew level.

"Good solid dozen of them, and if they anit the oddest bunch of mercs ever seen I'm a man!" Sera said.

"My dear no matter how crude your humor is I can attest to your womanhood." Vivienne drawled and sera burst out laughing as they jogged to alert the hold's leaders.

Dorian was enjoying his sleep with dreams filled of large skilled men tending to his every desire, and they were as many as they were varied. His sleep was shattered in a fashion that had to his eternal despair become all too common, as an elf shaped magic cover blur streaked into his room before leaping and crashing onto his bed jolting him awake.

{Ma Falon! Simra has great news!} Dorian sighed at the far too chipper this early in the morning, he had no idea how Josie dealt with this creature in the morning.

"How does Josie dealt with you like this?" He grumbled as he tried to curl back up, Simra simply started pulling the covers off.

{Ma Vhenan gives Simra a cookie and tells her to prep Ma Vhenan's office while she wakes up, then we have tea and tiny sandwiches before Simra goes for training!} She sang as she finished pulling the covers off making a pleased sound when she won the fight for the covers.  
"My dear what is this great news? Tell me quickly so I can get my much-needed beauty sleep!" Dorian groaned.

{But you are already so pretty, why would you need to be more, Simra wishes she could be as pretty.} Dorian reached out and patted her head smiling.

"You are already beautiful my dear, now what is the news?" Dorian asked getting the hyper elf back on track.

{The Val-kos are coming, they are almost at the gates now! Simra and Asaara-mommy do not know why they are here but this means that Simra can show her family all of her new friends! So Simra needs Dorian to wake up and get dressed, Dorian is the last to get up so wake up!} Simra said before throwing him a wash cloth and skipping out the door leaving a now very tired Dorian behind as he struggled to remember why he had thought coming to the south was a good idea.

Dorian opened the door to the courtyard and saw the inner circle gathering by the gate, he fell in step with Ironbull who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

"What is the matter Bull, Simra wake you up to?" Bull sighed and shook his head.

"She has not been allowed to wake me up since that time with scout Harding at the camp." Dorian winced in remembrance of when Simra accidently walked in on the pair fucking early in the morning, Simra had not been able to look Harding eye for a week after that.

"Yeah I don't think I have ever seen Simra move so fast, but finding your favorite scout who gives you treats with you in bed is a good fuel for running away!" Dorian laughed.

"Yeah I had thought Adaar was going to kill me! Dorian, if I don't make it out of this alive I want you to burn the chest under my bed. Don't open it just burn it." Dorian was disturbed by the serious tone his friend had taken.

"Bull these are our allies remember?" Dorian said, he knew that the Qunari of Adaar's group did not agree with the qun but still.

"Yeah and they are Adaar's family, you have been told how Simra react to when she found out about my past with Adaar? Now think what a group of angry Valsoth could do." Dorian shivered as he had heard the tale and now understood.

"Alright bull I promise to burn the chest, if you don't make it. also, can I have your wine if you die?" Dorian said as they joined the group.

{Don't worry The Iron Bull Simra wont let them kill you, Simra knows the whole story now so she will protect you. Asaara-mommy and Seeker-mommy wont let you get killed either, how else would be able to get in the way of enemy blades if you are dead? You are too heavy to be used as a shield, though if somehow The Iron Bull does die can Simra Have your horns?} Dorian's jaw dropped at the request, while bull only laughed.

"Ha only if you use them to make dildos for you and Josie!" Simra turned scarlet and started stammering, until she ran away to talk with Varric.

{ADAAR! You brat! How dare you plan to go marching off to war with out us!} A booming voice called out and Dorian looked at the group as they crossed through the gate, he realized Sera had been right they really were even odder than Bull's group.

The woman in the lead was a large Qunari with Horns like a ram with copper covers on them, she stood even taller than Bull and on her back, was something that Dorian could only describe as a small pillar of steel with a handle to make it a maul. The armor with the same as many of the other large qunari with only pants and boots on the bottom, with the upper body covered in blue vitaar and leather pads.

{Shokrakar! What are you doing here? The group was assigned to the fortress siege teams, you guy should already be there.} Asaaranda stepped forward to greet the woman.

{We left most of the kith there, we have enough that we could spare a group to join you and Simra as guards. Like we are going to trust you hairy eye ball troops to guard you!} the woman barked out laughing, Dorian felt the magic of Simra and Adaar working to make them understood.

{Fine do as you please, I know better than to try and stop you.} Adaar sighed.

{Shokrakar?} a meek voice came from Simra, Dorian watched shocked as Simra looking like a nervous child approached the large woman.

{A Child, I heard you found your mate. Now what are you standing there for where is my hug?} Simra brightened and threw herself into the arms of the large woman with tears in her eyes.

{I missed you Haren! I heard about the others, I am sorry that I was not there to say goodbye. Please don't be mad at me I had to stay and help, I am sorry about Hissra! It was my job to protect her and I failed, I am sorry please forgive me, I tried to protect her I really did!} Dorian felt like he should not be watching this, the group moved to block the view of those outside the inner circle and the Val-kos.

{Simra we could neve blame you for that, Hissra and the other died doing their jobs. They would not want you beating yourself up over it, they would want you to be beating up the lowlander scum to started this war!} Dorian's eyes bulged at the sight of a the of humans in the group.

The one that spoke was a large giant of a man who match Bull in both height and build the odd thing was the magic radiating off the battle-axe strapped to his back, the axe pulsed with magic akin to a staff just as the man glowed in his minds eye with strange wild magic. the man was dress like the avaar of the mountains with the fur of what Dorian guessed was a fade touched great bear serving as his hood and half cloak.

The other human was a small well endowed woman with stark white hair under her avaar leathers that were tanned in a camo pattern, the leathers were slimmer than the man's and would look more at home in a jungle than the mountains. That was back up by the slight magic pulsing over the woman that appeared to warm her.

{all right Simra let go of Shokrakar so we can go and get a drink and out of this fucking awful cold. Really, I swear that I would have never left the fog warriors if I had known that I would be dragged out in the frozen wastes.} the woman groused, already marching off to the tavern.

{Simra is sorry Sata-Kas Simra did not mean to get stuck in the mountains, Come on Simra will introduce you to Krem to make up for it. you will like him, he makes stuffed nugs!} Simra said once again astounding Dorian with her speed at which she changed emotions.

"Come on lowlander, half-dressed people belong in taverns and brothels not the mountain cold." A hand fell on his shoulder and Dorian stagger both from the hand and the words, before his mind could catch up with his mouth he spoke.

"If were at a brothel I would definitely be there." He muttered, and the large avaar started laughing.

"Well unless I missed my mark we have a new pair to drink to, don't we?" the man said pushing the hem of his pants down a bit to show Dorian's writing on his hip.

"Yes we do, now come on lets go find that drink I find it best to be slightly drunk for the first heart to heart." Dorian said leading the way while the large man followed laughing.

"I am Arcill." "Dorian."

"Good now we drink until we are drunk enough that we can debauch ourselves all night then blame it on the mead tomorrow!" Dorian smiled

"We are going to get on fine, my dear." Dorian remarked as they entered the tavern as Bull yelled to the chargers to come greet the group.


	34. Chapter 34 Krem

Ch.34 The reason Krem sews Nugs.

Krem sat in the tavern, putting the final additions on his latest stuffed nug. Holding the nug up he nodded, pleased with how it turned out. Simra had asked him to make a pair of Nugs to send to a Kith-Sister, the request was strange because of what Simra wanted added on to them.

The finished Nug was placed next its partner, one was a pale tan color while the other was a cream both with obsidian black eyes. The strange part was that one was stitched with an outfit that looked like his on the tan one, while the other one was based of a sketch Simra had given him. The outfit looked Avaar in style, even down to face paint snitching. Whenever Krem asked why, Simra always found someway to avoid answering the question.

{KREM!} a loud musical voice called out suddenly as the tavern door was thrown open, the tavern paused for a beat before moving on already use to Simra's actions.

Krem looked up from his perch on the back of his chair, what he saw made him look at his Nug and back up. walking into the Tavern was Simra, hanging on her arm was the Nug from his sketch turned into a woman. When the pair turned, Krem saw the woman properly and flushed slightly at the sight. She small even shorter than Simra, to the point where she could pass as a tall skinny dwarf.

{Sata-Kas, this is Krem!} Simra gestured proudly to him like she was showing a horse for sale. {He is the one Simra told you about!}

"So, you're are the Vint, the one who makes stuffed Nugs." The one named Sata-Kas spoke in a smooth rich voice with a smirk, Krem saw under her camo war paint she was actually cream colored.

"That's me, Nug maker and great shame of my country." Krem snarked back at her and the two smiled at each other already on the way to friends, when Simra squealed happily and hugged Sata-Kas.

{Congratulations Sata-Kas, Simra hopes you two have fun together! Simra is glad you both have great partners, Simra cant wait to be able to call Krem Kith-brother!} the pair of humans looked at the elf confused.

"Simra what are you on about, I didn't just make some unheard of avaar wedding vows or something right?" Krem asked, panicking on the inside. If he did, Krem was sure that Simra would kill him for it.

"First Fog Warrior not Avaar, that's Arcill not me. Second, I have know idea what she is talking about, I blame your vint shit not my proud sensible traditions." Krem smiled at the mock offence in her voice.

{Soulmarks, remember Simra has had a bath with both of you?} the two slowly nodded, Simra sighed face palming. {Krem's is across his upper back, and Sata-Kas's is on the top between her shoulder blades.}

The pair of humans winced as they realised at the same time they had forgotten their own words, before anyone could say anything the tavern door slammed open again. "Bar keep! A dozen mugs of that elven brandy I know Simra has stashed away." Called a loud voice, as in walked the largest qunari Krem had ever seen.

{You touch Simra's Brandy, and Simra reupholsters her favorite stool in Josie's office with dwarf!} came a threat from Simra as she dashed off to save her drink.

"Well I am guess we are soulmates." Krem said shrugging at the woman who shrugged back.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way but, unless you're a woman under that armor expect no sex or kissing. I don't mind sex but men are not my thing, nor are girly girls. Only a woman who can out fight me, thanks." Krem just stood there jaw dropping further with every word, did Simra and Asaaranda not tell them?

"umm just what did Simra tell you about me?" he asked looking at her, Sata-Kas only looked back confused before speaking. "That you were a great guy who made her stuffed Nugs and had even made her one with wings, like the ones from her dreams. Why is there something she left out, your not married are you?"

"I am how do the Qunari put it Aqun-Athsomthing." He explained and watched her eyes go wide.

"Aqun-Athlok? Thank the gods, I was worried there for a moment. No wonder Simra wanted us to meet, she knows I have a type. Now lets grab a drink and see just how many it takes before I can pry those plates off of you." She said with a smirk and wink, Krem just shook his head and followed.

* * *

Aqun-Athlok: term for one who is of one gender but lives as another.


	35. Chapter 35 Bull meets his match

Ch 35 The IronBull meets his match.

The IronBull by his nature was not a scared person, but surrounded by Asaaranda's Kith was easily the most fear inducing thing he has ever done. He was dragged along to the tavern, he wanted nothing more than to be very far away when they found out who he was.

{Damn, relax man we aren't about to kill you just because your from the qun.} Arcill the Avvar said clapping Bull on the shoulder.

"I have the feeling that I will need to learn more of that tongue." Dorian muttered as they entered the tavern.

"Relax my tiny mage, we can start with the fun words." Arcill said with a wink, Dorian sputtered and turned red.

As Shokrakar yelled out for drinks and Simra yelled out threats about the drinks the group moved to the tables, the entire tavern was watching their herald and leader walking among a strange group that had every race present. As Bull sat down he watch the Val-Kos dwarf saunter over to the bar and demand one of Simra's elven brandies, the entire tavern fell silent.

{You give that stone chewer any of Simra's brandy, Cabot and Simra will strangle you with your own guts!} Simra snarled, with ears flat in the elven sign of rage.

Everyone in the tavern knew that there were three things of Simra's you never touched, her chocolate, her soulmate, and her brandy. Cabot looked at his fellow dwarf and shrugged, he was a bar tender but the bottles of elven brandy were from Simra's private store so he was not touching them.

"Come on you can part with one bottle you greedy flower picker." The dwarf complained and everyone beside the Val-kos were backing away in fear.

"Should we be stepping?" Krem asked his knew soulmate, she looked at him like he was nuts. "Hell no! we need to place bets." Sata-Kas smirked and the Val-kos began placing bets.

"Fine standard terms and conditions." The dwarf that Bull learn was named, Ren Cadash or better know as Trapped, sneered.

{No anyone as champion, to be fair Simra lets the rock brained go first.} Simra sassed, and Trapper pointed to Bull who blinked at being dragged in to this fight.

{Simra asks grand aunt to be Simra's champion, pretty please? Simra gives Shokrakar a dalish treat?} Shokrakar countered with. {Treat and a shot of elven brandy.} {Fine.} Simra pouted.

"Yeah! I win! Ha, pay up Arcill!" Sata-Kas called to the large Avvar who grumbled but slid the coins over.

* * *

The pair sat across from each other, Arcill stood at the end of the table holding their fists together at the top. "All right, standard rules one round first to pin the other wins." Both parties nodded.

"All right begin!" with that he stepped away and at once the large pair began straining to pin each other's arm.

{With all Adaar told me about you I thought you would be tougher.} Shokrakar grunted, Bull flinched before countering. {Talk is cheap and useless in this!} he strained but Shokrakar smirked and slammed his fist to the table hard.

"Winner and still undefeated is out lovely boss!" Sata-Kas crowed.

"Damn I thought I had you there sim, oh well good to see you spitfire." Trapper sighed before picking up Simra in a bone crushing hug.

{Simra is glad to see trapper to, Trapper should see the under forge and meet Rune lady!} Trapped laughed and they moved off, trapper ordering a bottle of red wine saying he hate the taste of brandy.

"Well now what are your words Iron Bull?" Shokrakar asked, Bull shrugged. "what you said in our match."

"Right we are talking about this later, just so you know your bottom." Shokrakar said, Asaaranda barked out a laugh. {That he is.} Bull scratched his head embarrassed as Asaaranda walked off.

* * *

The next dawn saw the now even larger group riding out for the fort, Krem, Dorian and Iron Bull all had bags under their eyes. Where their new partners were fine beside the sullen mood that everyone beside Trapper and Simra seemed to have for morning from the Val-Kos.

"What's the matter Krem, worried about the battle?" Skinner asked, as she had never seen Krem so tired.

"I wish. If that is what lady Montilyet and the seeker have to deal with every night, then they are monsters." Krem grumbled, Skinner looked confused until she suddenly clued in and looked at Krem wide eyes.

"How long did you get to sleep?" Dalish asked as she rode beside them, Krem looked blankly at them. "I was laying down to sleep when she booted out of bed to get ready, so none." Dalish laughed.

"You think that is bad? I have slept with your cousin dalish, I have nothing on her stamina!" Dalish gagged at Sata-Kas's words.

{Sata-Kas! That was once, and Simra was drunk and thought you were a pretty merc from that other band!} Simra whined, Sata laughed and the others in the Val-kos joined in.

"I am scared to ask but just how many of you mates here have you and sparks slept with Vines?" Varric asked, Simra titled her head like a bird. {Together at the same time none, on our own? Probably everyone.}

Every member of in inquisition party looked at Simra with unconcealed shock, Simra just looked back at them confused. The Val-kos also looked confused, Varric looked like he was trying to figure out if this was a prank.

"Adaar what do these think we are, some chant singing sisters?" Shokrakar asked, looking at his new soulmate Bull spoke up.

"If they work like the qun in some ways, then they view sex as something fun and not a big deal." The others in the Val-kos nodded along.

"To be fair I had just thought all surfacers were like this when I first joined." Trapper shrugged.

"Okay, lets not mention this around any rumour mongers, we don't need the world getting the wrong message about Sparks." Varric said.

{I don't know why your bothered by this tale spinner, I fucked with Spinner.} Cassandra choked on her water she had been drinking.

"Don't remind me, I saw more that day of the three of you than I ever wanted to see." Varric muttered.

{If you had knocked and WAITED or noticed that Bela's coreset was on the floor outside the door than you would have been fine.} Sera nearly died laughing at that and Vivienne had to stop her from falling off the horse, talks quieted down after that.


	36. Chapter 36

Ch36 Assault

The inner circle and the two merc groups stood by the battering ram, the soldiers had trade places with the Val-Kos qunari. With fourteen Qunari warriors manning the battering ram, and several mages they were ready for the horn.

When the horn came, Sata-Kas seated on top of the frame of the ram, raised her hands and began casting. Four other mages sat on top the frame with her casting in concert, in a few seconds the group was surrounded in a thick fog.

{Stay near the ram, leave steering to Val-Kos!} Simra yelled over the rattle of the ram.

As one, five mages lead by Simra began to weave a barrier of over the group and ram. The chargers watched impressed as they marched beside a group, that had more mages than most groups. The inner circle watched as rocks and other projectiles harmlessly bounced off the shield.

When they reached the gates, Shokrakar roared to be heard. {Right new record! On Three beats!} A chorus of cheers was her response.

With the first three, the large ram was swung back with frightening ease by the large warriors. The wheels of the ram's frame glowed as two mages from Simra's team warded them in place.

Instead of letting the ram go to crash, the warriors pushed it along even faster. With a deafening crash the doors buckled, but stayed standing barely. With another count of three the ram was raised, this time when it crashed into the doors they blow straight of the hinges. The defenders trying to hold the door were flattened under them.

{Right! Val-Kos Forwards, time to clear the northern ramparts!} Shokrakar yelled, with a series of war cries the group plunged into the mist.

"Chargers! Don't lose, to the south!" Krem roared over the sounds of battle, a resounding yell of "HORNS UP!" the chargers took off to the southern ramparts.

The inner circle gathered up and began working their way towards the rift, Silva and Taeris arrived with Spinner not far behind with her crew. Together the group moved forward even faster, with Taeris and Silva along with Loghain and Cassandra flanking Bull as he smashed any defensive line they cam across.

Several warden groups surrendered, out of the blue a group of wardens wearing scarlet arm bands crashed into a defensive line's flank. Silva and Taeris laughed as they saw their warden crew, lead by Sigrun laughing madly.

"I thought you went for your calling!" Silva yelled over the battle, Sigrun laughed. "I tried, then a bunch of whiner showed up saying that the wardens were gathering!"

"Will you two focus!" Velanna Snapped at them, both laughed yelling out 'yes ma'am'.

After they dealt with the defensive group, the wardens of the heroes joined them. Cassandra noticed that every member of the warden group armbands had a jolly roger on it with a griffion head instead of a skull, and staffs instead of bones. The group reached the rift just as the warden commander killed another warden.

"Stop this madness at once!" Taeris roared smashing his pommel against his shield, magic making it into a thunderous crash.

"Who dares try to stop this?" Carrel yelled, Taeris and Silva with their wardens stepped forward.

"That would by the warden commanders of ferelden! We have found a cure for the joining, there is no need for this foolishness!" Silva yelled, the wardens of the fort froze as they all looked at the twins and reached out with their sense.

"They are telling the truth!" many wardens whispered, the magister who had been tricking the wardens started backing away.

"I did not come here to this back-water country to fail!" the magister yelled, unleashing a spell the caused the rift to blow open. As the man turned to run the dragon of the elder one landed on the fort with a roar.

"You guys go get that prick, will take the demons!" Sigrun yelled as the wardens charged, the wardens of the fort not under the compulsion tackled those who were.

* * *

Sera ran behind Vines and Sparks, inside she was panicking as this was just like her dream. Every time they skidded around a corner Sera thought they would be killed, as they ran after the warden commander and the magister she panicked.

When the magister was cornered by the warden commander and killed, Sera thought maybe her dream was wrong. That hope was shattered when the dragon roared and struck the battlements, as sparks and Vines hurled bolts at it she watched in horror.

The ground gave out beneath the group in front and they fell, Sera screamed and tried to rush forward only to have Vivienne grab her from behind and drag her to safety. She could only watch as Vines, Sparks, Cassandra, the twins, Spinner and Loghain fell off the fort. Sera saw a bright green flare before the mountain of rubble fell on top of the front group.


	37. Chapter 37 the past never stays buried

CH.37 The past never stays buried.

Cassandra groaned as she sat up and looked up, or what she thought was up but it looked like down instead. Looking around her, Cassandra found the twin wardens above or was it below her on the ground. Loghain was also on the ground, but he looked to be unaffected by floating mountains.

{Seeker-mommy, why is this mountain Simra is on, upside down and flying?} Simra's musical voice called from a nearby boulder.

Simra was sitting cross-legged on the peak, she looked like a very confused puppy as she floated by. Cassandra despite the danger they were in nearly laughed at the sight, a crash of thunder drew everyone's attention. Asaaranda appeared from the small carter she had made, Cassandra sighed in relief at the sight of her soulmate alive and well.

"Sparks any idea on how those of us without magic are suppose to get down?!" Spinner yelled, as she walked down the boulder Simra was on.

{Jump?} was the only response she got, Sighing Spinner leapt.

"Ow!" Silva yelped, as Spinner landed on her.

"I am not a landing pad." A droll remark from Taeris Followed, Simra leaping into his arms.

Cassandra shrugged and leapt for her soulmate. {I believe this is the part where you swoon and say 'my hero'?} Asaaranda teased with an raised eyebrow.

"Ugh, my hero, now will you let me down?" Cassandra said, smiling as she was set down.

They had barely begun making their way through the twisting landscape, when the smell of a burning battlefield reached them. Asaaranda went bone stiff and Simra's face contorted into a snarling mask, before Cassandra could ask what was wrong it appeared.  
A skeleton that looked elven by its height and build, only this thing was very strange even for a demon. It was on fire to the point of its bones being more like, bone shaped embers and the sound of it walking was like the sound of metal swords grinding against each other.

{Greetings my Asaaranda, I see that you have grown more skilled since last we met.} the voice sounded like brimstone grinding together, Cassandra reached for her sword when she heard something else.

Simra hissed like an angered cat, with her ears flat against her skull. {Begone Demon! I am not letting you anywhere near my Asaara-mother!} Simra hissed while glowing from head to toe in power.

Everyone but Asaaranda looked at Simra in confusion and a little fear, as the elf had never shown this level of hate. Even when threating others about her loved ones, she never glowed with this much hate. Cassandra drew her sword and shield, moving to flank her daughter and protect her soulmate from this demon.

{Hate me all you want, it only feds my power child. Beside I am simply here to deliever a message and a gift, surely you would not deny help when it is offered?} the demon rasped, Simra only growled in response.

{Do what you came here to do Resentment then leave, it is clear you are not want here.} Asaaranda rumbled, the calm dealings her soulmate was showing this demon floored Cassandra.

{I came to deliver this message, soon my end of the deal will come. The other part is this, I come baring a gift from your parents.} Resentment rasped, and with a gesture summoned a set of weapons.

Cassandra saw that the weapons were of qunari make, a sword and buckler floated next to a dagger and sword pair with a strange longbow floating next to them. The 'gifts' floated across the space and stopped in front of Cassandra, Asaaranda and Simra respectively. Cassandra carefully sheathed her weapons and grabbed the next set, and at once felt the powerful enchantments in them.

{There, my task is done. We will see each other soon my Asaaranda, do not die as I would hate to have to find a new vassal.} with that the demon vanished.

"Well sparks, that was something else, care to explain?" Spinner asked, Cassandra nodded even as she slipped the new weapons into place.

{Over twenty years ago when my magic first awoke fully, Resentment was there and told me that one day I would make a deal with it. the damn demon was right, when the monster that became my master got a hold of me I made the deal. In exchange for letting it reshape my magic and using me to get revenge on some targets, it would protect me from death and insure my freedom.} Asaaranda explained.

{So that is why you possess the power to raise the dead as you do?} Cassandra asked, Asaaranda nodded looking ashamed.

{My love I do not blame you for dealing with that demon, if it kept you safe and brought you to me then I am glad you did.} Cassandra soothed resting a hand on the shoulder of her soulmate, sad that the Vitaar prevented a kiss.

{Thank you, though why the AriQun sent us weapons, I can not guess.} Asaaranda sighed.

{Simra thinks that maybe she wants to protect Asaara-mommy, Simra knows that is what Simra would do.} Simra chirped, hugging her mothers.

"While I would love to stand around and play 'guess the thinking of people' how about we work on getting out of here, you know before something tries to eat us." Taeris called, from a boulder he standing on looking around. The group nodded and headed out.  
_

Simra walked new bow in hand, beside Spinning bow as they walked Simra thought. She had hoped that Resentment was gone for good, she never trusted the demon that played both sides. It only ever seemed to care about pleasing its 'treasures', how one could please the dead memories of weapons was beyond Simra. She was so lost in thought she barely heard the talk with the false divine, she did notice her Seeker-mommy needed a hug.

{There, there Simra gives you hug.} She cooed as she hugged her Seeker-mommy tightly, Seeker-mommy hugged her back hard.

[Ma serannas ma' ashalan] she whispered, Simra felt a few tears hit her cheek before the hug ended.

When they encounter the small fears, Simra shivered at the sight. The things looked to her like the slavers and corpses of her clan, she flinched every time she saw one of the slavers smile. Soon they gather the memories of the past for Asaara-mother, revealing what Simra had though about the mark was right. It was an elven magic given by old magic, the divine was dead and the first fear was controlling the wardens.

With all the memories gathered and the spirits that had been lost in this place found and put to rest, the group looked to the rift and began making their way there. Simra could not shake the strange feeling that something was going to happen, and when it did it would change many things.

Notes:

Ma serannas ma' ashalan = my thanks my daughter.  
weapons are on the wiki, sorry would post images here but do not know how.


	38. Chapter 38

Ch.38 Fears and debts paid.

Spinner walked beside Loghain, the group marched through the shallow ponds of the fade. With every wave of fearlings Sydney, wanted nothing more than to kick this Fear demon in its dangly bits. The warden twins looked fit to tear something into very tiny pieces, Spinner had been traveling with them for months and knew that they hated threats toward their family.

Fear was taunting them every so often and Spinner could not help but notice, every time Fear spoke Taeris and Silva began glowing faintly. The light seemed to drive the fear invoked by the taunts away, Spinner did not know why it worked and she did not care. It had been going smoothly for a bit, when they got turned around and found a graveyard.

"Last time I check, graveyards did not belong in the fade." Sydney joked weakly, Simra shook her head.

{Not graves, tombstones are mirrors.} Simra's voice was haunting, Asaaranda nodded.

{Each one reflects the fears, of those who Fear visited. These must be a way to show that Fear has been watching, and has been for sometime.} Spinner swallowed, looking she saw stones for every member of the inner circle.

(Fears)

Cassandra: Helplessness

Varric: Becoming His Parents

Sera: The Nothing

Iron Bull: Madness

Cole: Despair

Dorian: Temptation

Vivienne: Irrelevance

Solas: Dying Alone

Loghain: Destroying What He Seeks to Protect.

Sydney: Losing Her Family

Taeris: Weakness

Silva: Silence

Simra: Disappointing Loved Ones

Asaaranda: Losing Direction

"Well, this is depressing, I say we get moving." Taeris stood looking at Morrigan's stone, it read: Becoming her Mother.

{Simra does not think that anyone should be seeing these.} Simra muttered as she moved away from her grave.

Spinner nodded as she moved away from the stones, anything the demon had said paled when compared to seeing those stones. Sydney was glad for the next wave of fearlings, it gave her a chance to vent. It seemed that she was not the only one, as Simra screamed and blurred into combat. Sydney watched in awe and fear as Simra tore through the Demons with horrifying ease, Taeris chuckled next to her.

"Well, that kid really is something, few can fight with that much skill while that mad." Taeris remarked, Silva came up on Sydney's other side.

"Yeah, that little puppy has big teeth." Silva was smiling widely.

* * *

"Well Shit!" Sydney yelled, diving out of the way of a giant leg.

They had just killed the damn aspect of fear, when the divine or whatever it was ran out of juice. Now Fear was back and trying to crush them, if she was not in danger of being flattened Spinner would laugh at a spider stepping on people.

{Simra does not want to die by spider!} Simra screamed, Spinner watched as she fade stepped away just in time to avoid being crushed.

"Anyone have a bright idea! Or a really large boot?" Silva yelled, a second before she turned into a bird to avoid a sweeping tendril.

{Perhaps I can be of help?} Resentment taunted, Spinner looked and found the Demon sitting on a nearby cliff.

"One charred pile of bones? Great we're saved." Taeris mocked, Resentment tutted at him.

{Asaaranda with this I consider my end payed in full, if you ever want to make another deal do call won't you.} with that Resentment vanished in a puff of sulfur smelling smoke.

Spinner was about to ask what the demon had been smoking, when a massive number of will-o-wisps began flickering into existence. The air was filled with a song sung by thousands of voices, Taeris and Silva along with Simra went ram rod stiff. Spinner knew this song, it was Merrill's favorite hunting song from her clan, one that was shared by all clans.

All round the edge of the walls surround the group, wisps melted into the forms of elven hunters and warriors. As one they threw spectral chains with wicked hooks, in short order the specters had the fear chained. The group watched as a large number of the wisps broke off, coming to spiral around the group.

* * *

Simra fell to her knees as the will o wisps began to grow and change, in a few seconds glowing green spectral elves surrounded the entire group. Tears sprang from Simra's eyes as she looked at the faces of the elves, there was not a single face that had not haunted her dreams for years.

[No tears Ma Dalen now, we would rather see our beloved daughter smiling.] a kindly woman said kneeling to wipe the tears from Simra's eyes.

[Mama, I-I am sorry I should have been there with the clan!] Simra sobbed into the woman's shoulder, a masculine hand gripped her shoulders from behind.

[I saw what happened my dear, you did the clan proud. I am proud to call you my daughter, I have watched the woman you have grown into and could not be more proud!] Simra gapped at her father.

[Keeper, the demon stirs!] one of the hunters called, Simra saw Fear beginning to move again.

[Go all of you now!] the keeper ordered and Simra felt her self picked up by Asaaranda-mother.

[hold a moment Asaaranda!] her father called, Simra watched as he drew close.

[thank you for raising my daughter, you have our clan's thanks for bringing her up as a fine young woman.] Her mother said bowing, Asaaranda bowed before running to the rift.

Simra watch over her shoulder as her clan stalked towards the first fear, with a deafening war cry on their lips as she passed through the rift. [We are of the last Elvhen and never again shall we submit!]

* * *

Sera stood next to Vivienne as she healed, Sera could not take her eyes off the rift in the center of the square. It had been nearly a day and a half since the group fell, since then Sera's dreams had been strangely silent. The only bright side was that no bodies had been found, Solas had suggested that Sparks had made a rift and they fell into it.

Sera was about to go grab lunch for Vivienne, when the rift suddenly started writhing wildly. All around her people began panicking, Solas was charging straight towards the Rift with Sera and Vivienne right behind him. A large blast heralded the rift tearing open even further, the blast threw all most everyone back.

Sera rolled with the blast, coming to a knee with her bow drawn and arrow aimed. Out of the rift ran the herald's team, Sparks nearly threw Vines at the Seeker before whirling to face the rift. The green rope of fade power leapt out of her hand, Sera watched as it stitched up the rift. The moment it was sealed the wardens, who had been controlled by that vint arse, passed out.

"Well my dear, you certainly make an entrance." Dorian called out to Sparks, who looked tired.

{I try, Inner circle and warden heads gather at the command tent.} Sparks ordered, Sera jumped to obey with Vivienne on her heels.

In the end the wardens would remain, while under the command of Loghain with the twins working as go betweens for the inquisition and the wardens. The crew led by the Twins was heading to inform the first warden, and tell him where to stick it. Sera was happy about that, before the crew was to leave the group decided to have a small party.

Sera woke up the next morning with a headache, groaning she tried to sit up. she found that she could not, Vivienne was laying on top of her. Sera looked around and what she saw made her scream, Vivienne groaned and placed a hand over her mouth.

"Sera it is too early for that." Vivienne scolded, Sera opened her mouth to respond when someone beat her to the punch.

"Why can't you archer elves ever wake up quietly?" A voice grumbled, Sera felt Vivienne go stiff.

"You are in the wrong tent, my dear." Vivienne snapped, another voice on their other side chuckled.

"Sorry magey you are in our tent, but that did not seem to bother you too much when we were having fun." Sera groaned as the two Qunari woman laughed.

{Katoh, Ranus, Are you awake and dressed enough for Simra to come in?} Sera's eye widened in panic and saw Vivienne's do the same.

"We're good kid!" Katoh called, Sera looked for a blanket to cover them but found none.

{Shokrakar says to get up, also Asaar-Agha!} Simra started as she poked her head in the tent, only to scream and fall back out.

As the qunari started laughing Sera heard Vines yelling. {Not funny Katoh! Simra does not need to see Sera and Viviee like that outside the baths!}

"Sparks is going to kill us." Sera muttered, Katoh patted her shoulder.

"No she won't, not the worst she has ever walked in on." Katoh soothed, Sera heard Ranus laughed.

"Yeah, I'll say, remember the scream she made when she walked in on us with Shokrakar!" Ranus laughed even harder.

"Yeah, Simra would not look the boss in the eye for a month! Then when she did it was to ask for lesson in the knots, because they 'Looked pretty'." Sera was still hiding her face, while Vivienne was gathering their clothes and getting dressed.

"You two need to get going, we need to get up and break camp." Sera nodded and dressed, Simra was waved at them as they walked out.

{Sera-sister, If you need saddle cream, Sun-sister should have some. Something about trying Anders lightning trick!} Sera blushed hard, Vivienne simply walked by without looking at anyone.

"It is going to be a long trip back." Sera muttered following her soulmate.


	39. Chapter 39

Ch.39 The last Resort of Good Men

Simra was practicing her ribbon dancing when the tower door opened, with a twirling flip Simra hung upside down to look. Mother Giselle was waving at her, Simra frowned as she whirled back up the bolts of cloth. She hated the mother, she had lectured Simra about her faith several times. But what earned her this treatment, was the time when Giselle had hinted that her clan had been attack because they did not follow the maker.

"Lady Lavellan, might I speak with you in private?" the mother called up, Simra flipped back upside down to look.

{Simra is busy shem, go spout your human faith in an ice storm!} Simra snapped, Dorian sitting on the second floor laughed.

The mother huffed and stalked off, Simra began twirling around again. Dorian began debating magic with her as she twirled and spun, this had started sometime ago and was now something that they both enjoyed. Dorian had began debating with her as a test to see how well she could think, while as he called it 'trying to break her neck gracefully.' And Simra got a kick out of the challenge.

{Dorian, you need to read this, it is from your father.} Asaaranda called, as she and Cassandra climbed the stairs.

Simra saw red at the mention of the monster responsible for her clan's death. "Let me see this letter!" Dorian growled, seizing the letter.

"I know my son!? What my father knows about me would fit in a thimble!" Dorian fumed, beginning to pace. Raving about what his father had tried to do to him.

"If that is the case, Dorian I say you should meet this retainer. Just so we now if we have a threat lurking in the shadow, and so if he is high enough rank I can pummelled him." Cassandra stated, Dorian and the others looked confused.

"I'm touched Seeker, I did not know you cared so much." Dorian fanned himself.

"I don't, but your family are the ones responsible for my daughter's clan's destruction!" Cassandra growled, Simra teared up a bit at the protectiveness in Seeker-mommy's voice.

With a quick twist Simra was on the railing, Hugging her mothers with tears in her eyes. Seeker-mommy patted her head, and soothed her. Dorian came over and rubbed her back, Simra whipped around and hugged Dorian hard. Dorian patted her back, and after Simra calmed down she swung back out and began spinning her way down. Asaaranda ordered them to gather the others and begin packing, with the dawn the next day the inner circle was on their way.

* * *

Cassandra walked into the tavern with Dorian, Asaara and Simra, the rest were waiting outside to give them space. The tavern was empty, Cassandra's hand fell to her sword to loosen the blade in the sheath. The sound of footsteps had the group looking around, at the same time they all saw the man. The family resemblance was strong, Cassandra noticed Simra was beginning to glow and wisps of power collecting.

{Calm, we need to assess the situation before acting.} Cassandra whispered in Qunlat, Laying a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Inquisitor, I am sorry for the deception." Cassandra gritted her teeth at his smooth tone.

{Kiss my ass Bas, give me one good reason not to let my daughter take her revenge against you.} Asaara hissed.

"Blaming me for anything Tevinter has done is beneath you inquisitor." The magister drawled, Cassandra had to tighten her grip on Simra.

"You ordered the capture of her entire clan father, then ordered Simra raped under the guise of lessons!" Dorian roared, flames flickering across his skin and robes.

"Their deaths were a tragedy, but as to her lessons it was kinder to teach her what was expected of her." The man retorted, Cassandra growled and let go of Simra.

Before Simra could launch herself at the man, a dull roar filled the tavern. Dorian hurled a large fireball straight at his father, the magister flew back into the wall with enough force to crack the wood. Dorian panted in rage, he forced his breathing down and stood straight. Cassandra saw something that almost looked like sorrow cross his face, then he turned to face Simra and bowed.

"On behalf of house Pavus, Simra Lavellan, I Dorian Pavus present this man to do with as you please. I know this does nothing to make up for your loses, but I hope this shows you that I am nothing like this monster." Dorian stated, Simra smiled and kissed Dorian on the cheek.

{Sparkler, this is the best gift anyone has ever given Simra, she will make it last, she promises.} Simra purred sultry, while draping herself over him.

"Sorry my dear, your not my type, Arcill may have slept with you but not me. I am flattered though, if you were only male." Dorian lamented, Simra laughed.

{Go find yourself Arcill, and tell him to show you the lyrium trick. You deserve it Dorian… Oh, Simra suggests asking him to mix avaar whiskey in, Simra likes its tingle best!} Dorian laughed and left the tavern.

{Seeker-mommy, Asaara-mommy, please Leave, Simra does not want anyone to see this. Simra is about to break a lot of rules, most of them being anatomy.} Simra's voice became cold, Cassandra and Asaaranda left quietly after getting the promise Simra be done in time for dinner.

The group moved away from the tavern, a scream reached their ears before wards silenced it. everyone shivered at the sound of pure terror, but not one person would deny that Simra had the right to do this. Dorian was grim faced when they reached camp, Arcill walked up from where the Val-kos had been camping. With a look at him, Arcill just picked up Dorian and tossed him over his shoulder and marched towards their tent.

"Simra mentioned, something about lyrium and avaar whiskey?" Dorian asked, weakly struggling against the hold.

"Ah, you're in luck I have both on me, it will make you forget everything but me." Arcill promised, as they entered the tent.


	40. Chapter 40

Ch.40 Well, Shit

Amethyne and Morgana do not belong to me, my friend thetruefro over on AO3 is the one who owns them.

Simra wandered down the stairs from Josie's room, her body wrapped in a bathrobe of forest green. She was planning on getting a late night workout in, Ma Vhenan was busy with dealing a noble shem who was demanding a bigger room. So Simra decided to get in a workout, after that she would kick the shem noble out and drag Ma Vhenan to bed if need be.

"This is an odd place to hang bolts of cloth, don't you think?" Simra heard a voice speaking from inside the library.

"It is odd to hang bolts like that anywhere sweetie, but I feel some magic in them so maybe not touching them?" another voice advised, Simra opened the door to see who was there.

Simra was shocked to see Wing-Dancer's lieutenants standing looking up at her bolts of cloth, Simra had not heard that Taeris had arrived or had been sending the girls. The pair turned to look at Simra as she came into the light, both were dressed in casual dark green tunics and black pants with crimson armbands on their right arms.

{The magic in Simra's bolts are only to help grip and resist wear and tear along with strength, so Chocolate-thief does not need to worry they won't hurt snarky-Knife!} Simra chirped, entering the library.

"Hello Simra, what are you doing here? Mama said that no one would be in the Library this late?" Amethyne asked, Simra laughed as she stalked over.

{Simra is here to get a workout it, Ma Vhenan is dealing with an annoying Shem so she thought to get a work out in.} Simra explained, as she set her bundle of towels water and grip powered on a bench nearby.

"You're working out in a bathrobe and in the library, with bare feet and no weapons?" Morgana asked, Simra smirked at the disbelief in her voice.

{Simra is doing some bolt dancing, so Simra has to practice where the bolts are. Chocolate thief and Snarky-knife can ignore Simra while she works out, just keep it down.} Simra remarked casually, before she quickly dusted her hands lightly and threw herself onto the bolts.

Simra let the world fall away as she spun her way up the bolts, once at her normal level she began her workout. It was not until she got halfway through her first routine, that she noticed she had an audience. Slowing her dance she came to a stop, flipping upside down she looked down to the girls still watching from the bottom. Simra saw the way Snarky-Knife's eyes were wide with far more interest than Chocolate thief.

Whirling her way down, she came to a stop upside down so her eyes were level with Snarky-Knife's. {Does Snarky-Knife want to learn?} She teased, swinging like a pendulum.

"As long as you don't mind me interrupting your workout?" Amethyne answered smiling, Simra smirked wickedly.

{Does Snarky-Knife have underwear on that is tight fitting? Loose clothes are harder to work in, so Chocolate thief can stop glaring, Simra is not after your 'Sweetie'.} Simra explained, with an eye roll at Morgana for the last part.

"Yes I do, just give me a moment." Amethyne requested, Morgana looked at Simra strangely.

"Why do you call her that? I get Chocolate thief for me, but why Snarky-Knife?" Morgana asked, Simra smiled brightly while noticing that the mage seemed to be having a hard time not watching her soulmate.

{Simra calls Snarky-Knife that because she is the daughter of Touchy-Knife and Song-Knife} Simra explained, idly rolling herself into a knot.

"Okay, there has to be a story behind those names!" Morgana chuckled, Amethyne finished changing and came over.

Amethyne was dressed in a tight fitting tank top of a royal blue with purple tracings, and matching short shorts. Simra ran an eye over her outfit nodding, Morgana seemed to be stuck between wanting to ogle her soulmate and trying not to stare. Simra solved that by blocking Morgana's view as she move Amethyne to the bolts.

As Simra began showing Amethyne the basics of holding the bolts she explained. {song knife threatened, Simra within ten minutes of Simra being bonded to Ma Vhenan she also has a lovely voice.} Simra paused to explain a grip to Amethyne.

{Touchy-Knife comes from the fact that she is very touchy, she grabbed Simra's ass not even ten minutes after Simra proposed to Josie!} Simra pouted, Morgana sighed while Amethyne chuckled.

"That sounds like her" they both said at the same time, and blushed slightly when they realized they did so.

* * *

From above four sets of eyes watched the girls, Silva chuckled at the stories from Simra. Taeris was smirking at the slight blush Morgana was developing watching the elves beginning to dance. Morrigan and Leliana watched with motherly smiles on their faces, all four knew that Simra had seen them and was just pretending for the other girls' sakes.

"tis good to see them relaxing, Morgana has been working hard on her spells lately. A break is well deserved." Morrigan remarked, Leliana raised an eyebrow at her.

"No one would believe that you are the same witch from the blight." Leliana teased, Morrigan glared at her.

"Careful songstress, I will push you over this railing." Morrigan growled, Leliana smiled at her.

"You won't, that would hurt Morgana." Leliana smirked, Morrigan scowled and went back to watching the girls.

Leliana teased the witch knowing that it was just part of their relationship, ever since Taeris and Silva found Morgana the two had become closer. They had bounded over the blooming relationship between the adoptive daughter of Leliana and Silva's, and Morrigan and Taeris's adoptive daughter. Though the trevelyans would fight with Taeris and Morrigan about who is the adoptive parents, Taeris insisted that he and Morrigan were only teachers to the girl but his actions often countered that.

"Where are you putting those hands?!" Morgana's voice drifted up, followed by Simra laughing.

{Ah, Bad Chocolate-Thief, let go of Simra!... Give Simra's top back you shem bitch!} Simra yelled laughed, Morgana danced backwards holding the crimson tank top while Simra chased her in only her matching shorts and bra.

"You know covering my eyes is unneeded right?" Taeris remarked, Leliana giggled at the sight of Morrigan covering Taeris's eyes with one of her hands.

"Morgana, stop teasing her and help me down!" Amethyne yelled laughing, Leliana smiled at the sight of the three young girls having fun and laughing even if her daughter was dangling in a slightly provocative position.

* * *

Asaara walked beside Cassandra and Simra through the main hall, she was about to head for her tower when she saw something strange. Varric was speaking with a dwarf, one who seemed to be very upset while trying to remain unseen. Cassandra nudged her and gestured to the pair of dwarfs, nodding the trio moved to speak with their story teller.

{Tale-Spinner did you get this poor girl pregnant?} Asaaranda asked in a deadpan voice, the woman looked at Varric with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that really a problem around here with you?" Varric looked like he was about to respond, when he clearly though better of it.

"Sparks this is Bianca, Bianca this is Sparks the inquisitor." Varric introduced, Before anyone could do anything Simra tackled the female dwarf.

{Simra is happy to meet you! Varric refused to tell Simra that story about Bianca, he could have told Simra that it was a lady friend story.} Simra gushed, as Bianca looked very confused.

"Bianca meet Vines, Sparks's adoptive daughter, and a fan of my stories." Varric explained.

"Ah, I wish I could say that this was a pleasure visit but we have a problem, I found the source of the red lyrium the Templars are using." Bianca said, the mood crashed instantly.

"Well shit!" Varric groaned.

* * *

"Sir another shipment of reinforcements was sunk." A Venitroi messenger reported, the man flinched when an ink well smashed into the wall by his head.

"Who?!" the irate commander roared, the messenger cowered even more.

"Reports from the docks in the surrounding area, suggest that it was the 'Siren's call 2' sir." The messenger ducked in time to avoid the book the flew from the desk.

"How can they be spotting our ships, we have changed the route and patterns and signals ten times now!" Samson roared, his lyrium armor pulsing in time with his pounding heart.

"It seems that Lady Calpernia is with them, sir." The messenger ran from the room as a knife nearly took out his eye.

Samson sagged against his desk, the pain of withdrawal was made worse by the stress of these attacks. The elder one had given him back his position after Calpernia's betrayal, but as punishment Samson was only given just enough Lyrium to function. He knew that he could not risk anymore failures, the last time he had failed still haunted his night terrors. The months in that dark cell, where the only time he saw light was to be beaten or fed scraps to keep him alive.

"You are going to pay Calpernia, you will learn what happens when you betray our master, and what happens when you cross me bitch!" Samson vowed to the empty air.


	41. Chapter 41

Sera was sitting by the campfire in the hinterlands, watching Simra walking on her hands around camp. Sera had learned since joining that Simra loved acrobats and the like, taking any chance to learn their tricks, so now Simra was practicing her hand walking. Sera saw the loose rock a spilt second before Simra put her hand in it, the rock gave way and once and Simra fell over right on to Sera, knocking them both off the log.

[Fenhedis! Sera needs to get less sharp hips, Fenhedis, Simra's ass hurts.] Simra muttered, Sera had heard those curses before but like always the spell failed to translate them.

"What elfy shite are the cussing words?" Sera demanded, pushing Simra off before anyone got the wrong idea about the pair.

{Asaara-mommy told Simra not to allow the magic to translate, because some are very foul.} Simra explained, Sera sighed.

"What do they mean, not why can't I understand them." Sera snapped, Simra smirked letting Sera know that the little elf had been messing with her.

{Wolf penis, is what it means.} Simra explained, Sera got a wicked gleam in her eye.

"Can you teach me how to swear in the languages you know?" Sera asked, Simra shrugged and smiled before settling to begin Sera's lessons.

* * *

Varric led them into the cave system to meet up with Bianca, who melted out of the shadows with a bow in hand. Asaaranda nodded to the woman and they began moving forward, the group was smaller than she would have liked. Because of the need for speed and stealth they had left some of the inner circle behind, though Taeris had sent his lieutenants to assist them. Asaaranda had questioned sending them, but Taeris was firm that it would be good training for them and give him the peace he needs to manage the resupply of his crew in peace.

"You know not every dwarf likes caves right?" Varric asked to no one in particular, Asaaranda smirked at him.

{You hate every form of landscape tale-spinner, think on it this way you wont get rained on down here.} Varric just rolled his at her comment.

Cassandra snorted just as the red lyrium Templars rounded a corner, reacting with reflexes honed by years of training, Cassandra drew her sword and severed the man's head in a single stroke. His partner was about to bring his great-sword down on her when he was thrown to the side, in his place now stood Amethyne holding her shield in front of her. Before the man could struggle to rise, Morgana darted in and impaled him with her spectral blade. Any more banter was lost in the fight that followed, as they slowly worked their way through the underground.

Asaaranda waded through the melee, arcing blade flashing, leading an ever growing number of corpses. The number capped at thirteen, as that was all she could manage at once. The resistance was great, and the youngest youngest were working perfectly together. Amethyne was as solid as mountain and just as unmoveable, Morgana danced around her soulmate blade flashing. It was too tight a space for most ranged magic, but Simra had master her bow magic to the point where she could use it in almost any space. Sera had abandon her bow once she ran out of arrows, and now hid just behind Amethyne killing anything that came close to her old friend's back.

* * *

Simra had long run out of arrows, but that did not stop her using her bow. One of the reason she never worried about her arrows in combat was the bow she used carried a trick, using a mixture of lost elven magic and her Asaara-mommy's magic tricks to make it into a spirit hilt. If she had her mana, she would never run out of arrows, as Chocolate-thief knocked the shield back on a Templar Simra let fly an arrow. It struck in the small gap that had been exposed, when the shield had been bashed. Sera called out a warning to Morgana, who reacted instantly rolling to the side narrowly avoid lethal injuries but still went down from the glancing blow from the great axe.

Simra saw her go down, spinning her bow on to her back she leapt pulling her knife out at the same moment. [I am going to kill you! No one touches my Clan!] Simra roared, slipping back into elven and first person nouns from rage.

The bulky Templar raised his sword to block the blow, smirking know that a tiny elf would never be able to break his guard. That provide very wrong, when Simra's spectral great-sword flared to life and came crashing down onto the haft of the axe. The blade infused with force magic to increase the impact, sheared through the haft as if it was not there, before cleaving the man in two armor and all. Before the body could fall Simra was gone, grabbing the downed mage and fade stepping to the back of the fray to begin healing.

"Morgana!" Amethyne cried, starting to move after Simra, when Sera darted in front of her.

"Sparkles, focus! Leave your mage to Simra, no one is getting past her!" Sera snaps with conviction, Amethyne nods and dives back into the fray, venting her rage on the few remaining Templars.

* * *

Cassandra sheathed her sword and moved to check on the younger girls, while Varric and her love went with Bianca to seal the door. She arrived at the same time as Amethyne, who promptly tried to throw herself on Morgana only to bounce of a set of wards. Sera giggled at the sight of the armored elf on her back looking stunned, Cassandra smiled at the sight as well.

{Simra just finished patching Chocolate-thief up, she is not letting Snarky-knife ruin all Simra's hard work because you want sex.} Simra snapped light heartedly.

"I was trying to make sure she was all right, I am not a sex fiend like you!" Amethyne yelled blushing darkly, Cassandra laughed making the girls look at her.

{Simra lower your wards.} "Amethyne, be gentle with your soulmate, you don't want to hurt her." Cassandra told them, at once Simra snapped her fingers dropping the wards.

"I am fine sweetie, Simra fixed me up perfectly, I am just a little stiff and sore." Morgana soothed her soulmate, pulling her close, putting the elf's ear to her chest.

"See you can hear my breath and heart." Morgana whispered, stroking her mate's hair gently.

Cassandra gestured to the other girls and the trio left, Cassandra knew the need to know your love was safe. Having felt the mark turn brand, she had no desire to ever feel it again, Cassandra pulled Simra into a one armed hug. Sera tackled her and latched herself to the other side, making an exaggerated pleading face. Cassandra made a disgusted noise, but still rapped the other girl in a one arm hug, steadfastly ignoring how the hug tightened and the silent tears that fell. She only rubbed the girls back gently, as they walked towards the entrance.


	42. Chapter 42 Promise of destruction

Ch. 42 Promise of Destruction part one

Asaaranda entered the war room to find her soulmate glaring at the map, walking up behind her, she gently wrapped her arms around her Ataashi. Cassandra stiffened for a moment before relaxing into the embrace, Asaara saw the report that her mate had been reading and frowned. The report was from the scouts they had sent to find the seekers of truth, with the Templars consuming red lyrium and becoming corrupt the fact that the seekers were missing had them all concerned.

{The scouts have found the seekers?} Asaaranda asked, Cassandra nodded silently, before she could do more the doors to the war room opened.

"We have a problem, Beth found out where the seekers are." Spinner said by way of greeting, as she and the warden twins entered with Bethany and calpernia on their heels with the rest of the war council.

"A ship we raided had letters concerning them, Samson is on the move again." Bethany expanded, Calpernia chiming in as well.

"That mad dog plans to have the seekers moved in the next few days, the promisors have gotten nervous apparently." The disdain in the mage's voice clear.

"Silva already has a plan." Taeris explained, gesturing to his sibling.

"Basics are this, Herald and Seeker plus whomever they want with them go into the base. While they clear out the rats and save those who can, the rest of the inner circle along with Spinner and Fenris and Bela will take out any who escape. While that is going on Taeris and I will be taking out both the transfer point and new base they are setting up." Silva explained, and Cassandra nodded grimly.

# # # # #

Cassandra turned from the castle keep of the promisors to look at the group with her, Asaaranda had let Cassandra pick the team and she was glad for it. The group included Bethany and Calpernia, both had asked to be able to see this through, Simra crouched next to the bounded pair polishing her knife with a grim expression. Simra had flat out said that family of her seeker-mother was under her protection, which meant she would get revenge if it came to it, Cassandra had nearly cried at that.

Iron Bull had been the first of the inner circle to step forward to volunteer, Bull said that any group that produced her was too good to be betrayed like that, and that if Adaar was going he was to. Dalish had appeared with Skinner just as they were about to leave, and had insisted on coming both as chargers and as Simra's family. The biggest surprise had been Varric requesting to go, Varric said that he was not missing this chapter in the tale, even if it was never going to be written for the public. Simra had told her that night that Varric was concerned for her and was going to make sure Cassandra had someone watching her and Spark's back.

"All right it is nearly time to begin, we must get going." Cassandra ordered, the group nodded grimly and they moved without a word.

"Don't worry Seeker, I got you back!" Varric joked, Cassandra made a disgusted noise, but was smirking at the attempt to break the tension.

"Thank you Varric that makes me so much better." Cassandra remarked drily, Varric chuckled as they stalked up the path.

# # # # #

Simra felt an odd contrast, she was enraged at the promisors and what they were doing and the sorrow they caused her Seeker-mommy, but she was elated at the same time. Every time she loosed an arrow to stagger a foe, only for them to fall to sun-sister or magic-sister's spells, she felt a thrill of pleasure. Sun-sister whipped around using her staff blade to cut the throat of a rouge that had been sneaking up on Magic-sister while she had been protecting Simra.

The trio moved in perfect harmony through the battle field, magic auras spinning around each other raising the power of each. Soon the battle was over, and the horrors of what had been done to the seekers had been revealed. They found Daniel Seeker-mother's former apprentice, dying of the poison in his veins. Simra knelt beside her mother as Cassandra slide the knife between the plates of Daniel's armor, when she rose from the body Simra moved closer.

Laying a gentle hand on the fallen Seeker, Simra gathered her power around her, feeling Sun-sister and Magic-sister feeding her power as well. With her powers higher than they had ever been in her life, she began a sad song of parting, one that had been sung in her clan since its founding. The spirits of faith, purity and compassion heard the song and came to do as they were implored to do, using the power offered by Simra the spirits began burning the taint from the body. No mortal would have been able to survive the cleansing, but Simra could at least guide the soul into the afterlife, untouched by the taint of poison.

[ _Falon'Din_ , ghi'la ma' isa'ma'lin shosaan, atish ma' isa'ma'lin Sal, ghi'la ma' isa'ma'lin to isa hamin.] Simra spoke the prayer gently over the cleansed body, shutting the eyes gently, before laying the body down and arranging it into a sleeping postion.

Simra stood and bowed to the body one last time, before the group moved on, several with tears in their eyes and rage in their hearts. The rest of the Promisors fell quickly, Seeker-mother and Asaara-mother cleaved their way through the traitors with ease. When they finally reached the Lord Seeker who had gone mad in Simra's opinion, the only ones left were the inner circle and the few Promisors and the lord seeker.

The lord seeker ranted and rave for a time, about how the seekers were monsters and needed to be destroyed, Simra watched the black mist swirl and thicken around Asaara-mother. When before anyone could react the veil began convulsing, as something began forcing its way through, Simra knew what this presence was and could feel its desires. Then the veil settled as the presence finished crossing over, they looked around but no sign of the demon could be found, the lord Seeker began laughing until the doors to the keep blasted off their hinges.

# # # # #

Cassandra turned and froze at the sight before her, Daniel was up and walking out of the keep, black mist swirling around him. She turned to glare at her love, but saw the look of confusion there and realized something, Asaaranda had not summoned the body, nor was she the one controlling it. One of the Promisors charged the revenant, but the creature simply waved its hand. The man flew across the yard smashing into the stone wall on the other side with a sickening crack.

"Lord seeker, you and your band of traitors have wronged enough that their voices reached me, with a vessel cleansed and the veil damaged enough I have come to answer their call." The voice was a horrifying cross between Daniel's and the demon from the fade 'resentment's'.

"What are you?" The lord Seeker cried, as the revenant advanced on the group.

"Once the voice of the fallen and the wronged, now we are the Avatar of them. We are here to make sure you suffer for your crimes!" Resentment promised.

Cassandra watched as Daniel advanced calmly, with the black mist swirling around him. The Promisors attempted to stop him, but soon learned that Daniel's body remembered its training. Daniel had been talented in life, but now with Resentment guiding the body, he was far better. It took no time at all for the promisors to fall to his sword and shield, Daniel had once joked that his love for the great shield and long sword made him look like a Revenant. Now Cassandra thought it had been tragic foreshadowing, the lord Seeker was thrown back by a wave of Resentment's hand.

"It is time for you to feel the pain and fear of your victims!" Daniel growled, Resentment hoisted the lord up by his throat black orbs of his eye boring into the Seeker lord.

The scream of fear would haunt Cassandra's nightmares for the rest of her life, the sound was not something a human should ever make. The Lord Seeker seemed to burn from the inside out as he died, in a few moments Resentment was left holding a gorget with a pile of ashes below it. Daniel looked at the group and advanced slowly, dropping its weapons on its way, stopping in front of Cassandra. Simra and Asaaranda were side by side in front of her, weapons drawn and watching.

"Cassandra, we mean you no harm, we only wish to bid you farewell." Daniel spoke, voice more human than the demon's.

"Who are you, Daniel died but you keep acting like you are him. It is insulting resentment!" She snapped, Daniel looked thoughtful.

"We do not know who we are, when Simra burned the taint from my body the spirits started to guide my soul away. Then Resentment approached me and offered me life again, I can finally be the hero that I always wanted." Cassandra frowned at the strange dual tone, Simra was looking amazed.

{Simra does not believe it, this has not happened in years!} Simra exclained, Cassandra looked at her hard.

"What did your spell do?" She was not happy at this reveal, Simra seemed to cower in a bit of fear, but Daniel broke in.

"It is not her fault, the spell did as it was supposed to and cleansed me. The fact that she is referring to is the birth of an avenging spirit warrior. They are warriors born from a deal made between a pure soul and a spirit to avenge the wronged." Daniel explained, Simra nodded.

{It was only possible because seeker-brother was a pure soul, apart from the taint of red lyrium. So Simra had idea that a spirit of the wronged was nearby or that the soul was pure enough to make one.} Simra explained, still looking in awe at the warrior.

"very well, what will you do now?" Cassandra asked, Daniel smiled sadly.

"I need time to find myself, I will go where I am needed but I should stay away from you until I know that I am safe." Daniel turned to leave when Bethany called out.

"Wait, why not travel with Calpernia and I? We could use the help in our task of hunting the Venatori on the high seas!" Daniel paused and nodded, agreeing to the idea.

The group left behind a burning castle, the fire was magic cast by the mages of the group it would burn until there was nothing left but scorched earth, cleansed of the taint. Daniel seemed at peace right now, though Cassandra notice how he kept tilting his head to listen to sounds none could hear. When he left with Bethany and Calpernia, she embraced him and he shook for a moment in her arms before straightening and leaving without a backward glance.


	43. Chapter 43

Simra makes a friend.

Leliana sighed as she read the letter, Josie was up in arms over it. Simra had vanished in the middle of the night, leaving only a short letter explaining that Simra was going to look into a lead on something. The inquisitor shrugged and said that Simra had been know to do this, she always came back usually with something completely insane.

"Josie if you keep pacing you are going to wear a hole in my rug." Leliana sighed, no even glancing away from her reports.

"How can you be calm? Simra has vanished, and no one knows where she is!" Josie nearly screeched, Leliana swore she was going to tan Simra's ass for making her deal with this.

"Josie, if Asaaranda is not worried, why should we be? Simra is a very dangerously and powerful mage, she can take care of herself." Setting her work down, she fixed Josie with a hard look.

"I am flattered that you think I could do anything about this, the woman was trained by dalish hunters, fog warriors of Seheron, tal-valshoth Saarebas and agents. Do you really think if she does not want to be followed or found that I can?" Leliana asked, Josie calmed a bit.

"Sister nightingale! She is back!" one of her spies came up panting, Josie was off like a shot from a bow.

"Let us go greet the troublemaker." Leliana remarked calmly, following after her dear friend.

# # # #

Simra rode on her hart through the gate of skyhold, glad to be out of the biting cold wind of the mountains. Simra had hoped to get cleaned up before Ma 'Vhenan found her, that was ruined when Josie appeared in a whirl of silken anger. Simra's head snapped to the side from the force of the slap, before she could figure out what happened she was pulled into a fierce kiss. Simra was very confused, as when she tried to return it she was slapped again.

{Simra is very confused, is she in trouble or not?} Simra asked, sounding like a kicked puppy.

"You just vanished! I was worried, no one knew where you were!" Josie cried, crushing Simra in a hug.

Simra's ears drooped. {Simra is sorry, she had to go in order to reach the hunting grounds in time, Simra would have told Josephine but the gathering is secret. Even Asaaranda-mommy does not where it is, Simra did bring back presents to make up for it.} Josie frowned, Leliana came up in time to hear and smiled.

"That explains why my dalish spies all took a few days off." Leliana looked like she was going to say more, when she spotted the other mount Simra had brought.

{Simra brought her to thank song knife, for being a sister to Ma 'vhenan.} Simra explained, as Leliana cooed over the giant battle nug.

"Where did you find this cutie?" Leliana cooed, the large pale green battle nug snuffling at the red head's hair.

{Simra traded one of her spell journals for Shem-stomper!} Simra chirped, Leliana raised an eyebrow at the name.

"Shem-stomper? That is not a name I would have thought you would give a nug." Josie remarked, Simra's ears twitched with surprised laughter.

{Shem-stomper was named by her breeder, got the name for crushing a foolish Shem that got mouthy to it.} Simra laughed at the story, Leliana had a smirk as the nug seemed to preen with the attention.

{Simra will give out the rest of the gifts after she has a bath and makes up to Ma' Vhenan for vanishing.} Simra called as she dragged Josie off, Leliana led the nug over to the stables, where the stable master groaned at the sight of another strange beast to tend to.

# # # #

It was two hours later that Simra called the inner circle together, they sat in the inquisitor's room, Simra muttering about her ass hurting while Josie blushed. Two others were there as well, Morgana and Amethyne had also been called up. Simra produced a large pile of gifts, smiling she began handing them out.

{Vivie gets a proper spirit hilt, not that poorly made thing!} Vivienne took the blade gratefully, everyone knew that Simra was teasing but the hilt was of much higher quality than Vivienne's.

{Sister-Sera gets something special… Dalish warbow, far better than anything any Shemlen or none dalish could make!} Sera gapped at the bow laid in her hands, made of iron wood and of a recurve shape it was polished to a dull gleam.

"Wow, can't wait to stick some blighter with this lady!" Sera crowed.

So it went until there was only three gifts remaining, one for Josie, Morgana and Amethyne. Simra grabbed the first of the three, handing it to Morgana, who took it carefully as if she expected to explode. Simra was smiling widely as the mage opened it, the box contained several carefully wrapped packages. The smell when the box opened made everyone in the room groan and Varric's eyes widen.

"Shit, Amethyst you are one lucky girl, that is halla milk chocolate, nobles would pay their weight in gold for that box there." Varric was in awe.

"Really, what makes it so special?" Morgana asked, carefully sniffing the chocolate before taking a small nibble and promptly melting into a moaning mess.

"Ha, there is your answer, the dalish are the best at making Halla milk sweets, they almost never sell it to outsiders and even then not that much. Vines how in Andraste's tits did you pay for them?" Varric directed the last part to Simra who grinned.

{Simra is very good at cards, she started a game for sweets, by the end she had enough Halla milk ones for Chocolate-thief and enough Halla milk and lotus wine ones for Simra!} Simra bragged patting a box to her left, one that had more runes and wards on it than most noble's vaults.

{For Snarky-knife, Simra has a good treat!} Amethyne's was a larger box filled with various spiced dried meats.

"Simra, don't you know that is it a man's stomach that is the way to his heart not a woman?" Amethyne teased, Simra smirked.

{Simra knows, though she suggests that Snarky-knife shares the blue wrapped one with Chocolate-thief when Snarky-knife wants extra passion and length in bed!} Amethyne blushed at suggestion and Morgana looked at the meat with a look that said it would not take long for it to be tried.

{Ma' Vhenan is last because, Simra wanted to save the best for last.} Simra explained handing a large box to Josie, who nearly fell forward from her cushion on the floor from the weight.

Unwrapping the box, revealed a carefully carved and stained ironwood box. Josephine started tearing up at what was inlayed on the top and on the latch, carefully inlayed was the original coat of arms for her house along with some elvish written below.

[manen to manen, ar'an vaslana waves] Simra read in her smooth bell like voice, then she translated it. {Sea to sea, we tame waves… it is as close as it gets to your old saying.}

Josephine kissed Simra deeply, after dapping her eyes dry she opened the box. Nestled in smooth golden velvet, were black ironwood writing supplies, including; a ink well with a sleeping halla wrapped around the jar for a base, a pen carved to look like a vine, and various other tools. Simra was shocked when Josie calmly put the piece back in the box and set it aside, her ears drooped thinking that Josie did not like it.

Only to shoot back up in shock as Josie tackled her backwards to the floor, kissing her so deeply that Varric coughed and looked away. "Our room now!" was all Josie said, Simra blinked then smiled and fade stepped them out of the room.

"Well I think our gathering is over?" Morgana shook her head at her soulmate's comment.

"Well then sweetie how about we go try out that meat?" Morgana suggested waggling her eyebrows, Amethyne blushed but nodded and the pair vanished in another fade step.


	44. Chapter 44

Cassandra gets threatened?

In the early twilight of the morning two guards stood watching the gate with tired eyes, from out of the shadows a figure melted. The guards jumped and readied their spears, when the figure lowered their hood to reveal an qunari women who was on the slim side for her race. The woman bowed to them before smiling gently and showing her empty hands, the guards having seen the Val-Kas train new that unarmed this woman was still dangerous.

"I come in peace, I am here on behalf of the Qun and seek an audience with the inquisitor, my title is Tallis." The guards glanced at each other, calling out they sent a third guard to fetch the inquisitor and some more guards to escort the woman.

###

Tallis stood at the war table looking at the gathered members, the forces daughter had gathered in such a short time impressed her. Asaaranda looked at her with a calm and neutral expression, while the woman on her right hand looked at her with suspicion. Ironbull cleared his throat and looked at both her daughter and herself for approval, at the same time they nodded.

"Not to be rude ma'am, but what are you doing here?" Ironbull asked, Tallis nodded to her former student.

"I come baring a deal for the inquisition, and for the Bas pirates that stole the tome of Koslun." The tension went up rapidly in the room, as the twin wardens and the pirates reached for weapons.

{Wait, let us here what she has to say. The AriQun is not stupid enough to send her best agent to her death, so I doubt she is here to kill anyone.} Asaaranda ordered, Tallis watched with approval as the weapons were sheathed again.

"It is as you say, the offer is simple. The Qun has located the port of origin for the bulk of the red lyrium, we are offering an alliance and a pardon for the both groups, though the inquisition needed no pardon as of the moment." Tallis stated, the statement made both other qunari in the room jaw's drop.

"Just what is it that the Qun is wanting?" The Seeker asked, Tallis resisted smiling at the intelligence that the seeker was showing.

"A two pronged three group assault on the harbour. The inquisition along with a select group of warriors take out the two watch stations, a dreadnought and the pirates corral and sink the shipping vessels and a third group of inquisition warriors remain hidden to back up either group at the watch stations." Tallis explained, Cassandra nodded along with several others.

{The Inquisition agrees to these terms, it will take a few days to gather and plan out the troops, you are of course welcome to stay and join us on the journey out there.} Asaaranda offered, Tallis smiled.

"It would be my pleasure to journey with you inquisitor, should need anything I can provide please ask." Tallis offered, Asaaranda nodded breaking up the meeting.

As the seeker was about to walk out, Tallis stopped her. "Might we speak alone Seeker?"

Cassandra glared at her. "Why?" "I simply wish to get to know the woman who brings my child such joy." Cassandra's jaw dropped, after a moment she nodded and led the way to the garden.

###

Cassandra sat across from the woman who claimed to be related to Asaaranda, who was calmly sipping tea. Tallis was on the smaller side for qunari women, granted that meant she was still at large as the commander, her horns swept back in an identical fashion to Asaaranda. Cassandra could help but notice that many of her facial features were similar to her soulmate, after a few moments of silence, Tallis set her tea down.

"I am guessing you don't believe me seeker." Tallis stated calmly, Cassandra nodded slowly.

"I have learned a fair amount about my Kadan's homeland since meeting her, and one of thing I have learned is that you Qunari do not have parents under the Qun." Tallis smiled at her words, causing Cassandra to glare.

"That is very true, however the AriQun and I are lovers and kept a close eye on her since she was born. It seems she inherited far more from her father than myself, given her magic and size." Tallis remarked, making Cassandra choke on her tea.

"The AriQun is a mage?!" "Yes but not a very strong one, it is a very minor talent and one that the Qun turns a blind eye to given the results of her use of it to serve. Though we could not save our daughter from that monster, we did keep her safe to some extent." Cassandra glared, so Tallis sighed and went on.

"We made a deal with Resentment to watch over and help our daughter and when the time came, we assisted in her escape, I even took the bow shot that shattered the control rod allowing her to get free." Tallis explained.

"So, what is it you want?" Cassandra asked, still not trusting this woman, her soulmate might have trust in the Qun's dream but Cassandra had doubts.

"Nothing more than ensuring that my daughter has a good life, something that will not happen under the Qun sadly. The Qun is great for many, but it has problems and a lot of them, even with the Arishok and AriQun working together it will be many years before change is noticeable." The reveal of a hint of the Qun's goal shocked Cassandra.

"Very well, I will trust you for now, but if you hurt Asaaranda in any way I will end you myself!" Cassandra promised, Tallis smiled brightly and Cassandra saw just how like her mother Asaaranda was.

"Excellent, I thank you for your time Seeker. Now if you don't mind I have a granddaughter to find and get to know, farewell I am sure we will speak more in the future." With that Tallis rose, and left a mildly stunned Seeker behind.

###


	45. Chapter 45

Amethyne is scarred for life, Morgana is just aroused

"Morgana, have you seen Simra? I was wondering if I could get more lessons from her for bolt dancing." Amethyne asked her mage as she entered the great hall, Morgana looked up from where she was finishing a round of diamond back with Varric.

"I think I saw her head into Josie's office, do you want some company Sweetie?" Morgana offered, already out of her chair and hugging Amethyne, who blushed lightly at the contact.

"Thanks, I had fun with the dancing and it was a good work out, so I thought since uncle Taeris assigned us to the Inquisition for now I might as well." Morgana smiled down at her.

"I enjoyed watching, you looked great." Amethyne blushed as the smirk on her soulmate's face.

Reaching the office door Amethyne opened it and started talking before looking too closely. "Auntie Josie have you seen-Argh!" The door behind the pair of women slammed closed as Simra's force magic slammed it shut.

Amethyne felt her brain stop working at the sight before her, Aunt Josie was bent over her desk with her top down and breasts hanging out, and skirt up over her hips naked underneath there as well. Simra was staring at them shocked wearing nothing but a strap-on, with said strap-on buried deep in Josie who was blushing and hiding her face on the desk.

{Snarky-Knife, Chocolate-Thief! How are you? Simra is glad to see you again, would you ladies like to join? Simra is sure Josie would not mind sharing our toys!} Josie only groaned, though Amethyne could not tell if that was from embarrassment or from Simra moving causing the strap-on to move.

"No, nope, no, no! That is not how I want to see one of my Aunts!" Amethyne whipped around, Simra's words breaking her out of her shock.

"Are-Are you serious?" Morgana Stuttered, Amethyne looked in her mage's eyes and saw them darkening with lust as she blushed.

"I-I Admit it is not something I would have thought of but yes you are welcome." Josie panted, Amethyne unable to bear hearing her Aunt panting like that dragged Morgana out of the room.

###

Morgana let herself be dragged be Amethyne, who was cherry red, dimly she heard Varric howling with laughter. But her mind was still back in the office, Simra had not been wearing her top showing of the toned muscle and scars and just how far the dalish tattoos really went. Morgana would be lying if she said she had been tempted, but based on Amethyne's reaction it was would never happen and that was that for Morgana. she would cut out her heart before she hurt her Sweetie. They entered their shared room and Amethyne finally let go of Morgana, and stood there panting for a few seconds.

"I will never get that image out of my head!" Amethyne shuddered, Morgana wrapped her in a hug and rubbed her back.

"I never had guessed Josie was into that stuff?" Morgana remarked, trying not to blush from the memory.

"I can't believe Simra really offered that!" Amethyne's voice was muffled by Morgana's chest.

"I admit it was a surprise, I thought she only tolerated me?" Amethyne looked up at her, and shook her head.

"Let's never speak of it again, come on I want to cuddle and forget that… Can you read to me?" Amethyne begged, Morgana smiled and picked up their latest book.

Settling in their bed with Amethyne tucked between Morgana's legs, Morgana settled the book on Amethyne's lap and began reading. They had started this back on the second day after they had met, Taeris had set rules about the skinship they were allowed until they got older so this was something Morgana had suggested. Mainly so Morgana could get used to contact with her soulmate, and Amethyne got to cuddle and spend time with her without either growing bored so it worked.

"The Black Fox was a dashing thief and rogue who went on to inspire so many tales of his exploits that it is nearly impossible to determine today which are true and which are merely fabricated legend." Morgana began.

###

Tallis entered the library to find Simra twirling on bolts of cloth, the elf stopped and stared at her upside down. Tallis smiled and nodded a greeting to the young elf, who smiled back and began twirling down until her eyes were level with Tallis's own. Tallis approached and reaching up adjusted the fit of the young woman's bra, making Simra blush slightly.

{I think your soulmate might get jealous if you let others see your breasts without her permission, though I am sure they are quite lovely.} Tallis teased, enjoying the blush that spread over her adoptive daughter's face.

{Your Asaaranda-Mommy's mommy?} Simra asked, Tallis fought the urge to laugh at how like a confused puppy the young elf was.

{That is right young one, though I can not claim her under the qun as you know. But I am glad to see that my daughter has done a better job with her child than I did mine.} Tallis answered, Simra smiled and swung a bit to kiss her forehead.

{Asaara-Mommy always praised her mommy's she knows how much you did for her, that annoying demon told her.} Simra smiled, Tallis smiled and bid the young elf farewell as she left her to the dancing she had been doing.

Tallis left a bag of sweets for the young elf on her way out, if there was one thing she was glad about the new Arishok it was his bringing the idea of sweets to the Qun. Tallis wandered the castle learning the lay out and getting a feel for the inner circle, she was walking to her room when she passed a door that was barely open. From inside the sound of a person reading aloud reached her ears, peeking in she saw the young mage Morgana and the elf Amethyne cuddling and reading together.

Both seemed to notice their watcher at the same time, so Tallis entered with a smile. Tossing a bag of sweets to the girls she waved and left a pair of very confused females, as she walked down the hall she heard them talking.

"That was strange, but hey sweets!" Amethyne crowed.

"I believe that was Tallis, the AriQun's personal envoy, I wonder why she gave us sweets?" Morgana remarked.

"Maybe she is friends with Uncle Sten." Amethyne offered, Tallis moved too far away to hear any response.

Entering her room she pulled out her map and laid in it out on the desk, she began going over the plan again looking for anything that could bring risk to the alliance or to her daughter.


	46. Chapter 46

Old Friends, fires burn bright.

After a few days of traveling the group arrived at the meeting location for the plan, the Chargers had arrived a day ahead of them so the camp was set up all that was left was to wait for the contact. Tallis had informed them that the contact was a warrior held in high regard by the Arishok, and the AriQun, so Amethyne had been trying to pry information about this contact from Tallis for the last few days with no success.

"Come on just tell me please!" Amethyne begged, ignoring the snickers from both Simra and Sera.

{Give it up Snarky-knife Simra already tried, she failed.} Simra called, from her seat by the fire where she and Morgana were debating the different types of spirit hilts.

"Badgering me is like telling a waterfall to flow backwards, it won't help you." Tallis sighed and dug in her hip bag. "Here eat this and be quiet, they will be here soon." Tallis ordered as she shoved a cookie into the girl's mouth, who choked on the cookie a bit as she moved away.

"Ha it worked, I got a cookie!" Amethyne winked at Morgana, who shook her head while smiling fondly.

"Inquisitor the contact is here, and ma'am he makes you and the chief look small!" Amethyne jumped up at Krem's call.

{Bring him here, I am not getting up until my hair is braided, otherwise it will never get done.} Asaaranda called from her spot opposite the trio of young women, Cassandra Sera and Vivienne helping braid her hair into seven braids.

The escort rounded the tents just as Asaaranda stood with her hair finally finished, Amethyne's jaw dropped as she saw the contact. "Cutler!?" Amethyne yelled surprised and started running to him.

Before she got more than a few steps a blur of lightning passed her and crashed into the large Qunari, Amethyne blinked at the sight of her childhood bodyguard and friend on his back with Asaaranda straddling him laughing. Cutler blinked a few times before laughing, and trying to throw Asaaranda off. Amethyne was still in shock as Morgana and Simra drew level, the former throwing an arm around her.

{Simra is very confused, why is Asaara-mommy playing with the contact?} Simra asked, Morgana looked at her confused.

"It more looks like they are fighting." Morgana remarked, the two seemed to have reached a stale mate with Asaaranda pinning Cutler but unable to move without him getting free.

{Ha! Still is easy to get on your back, you need more training!} Asaaranda vanished is a flash of light, settling again by Cassandra's side.

"Offering to help me?" Cutler joked, Asaaranda laughed shaking her head. {My Atasshi would have my horns, though watching you two spar could be something to see… the two best lays I have ever had going at it, now that is an idea!} Asaaranda teased, Cutler laughing as Cassandra turned red.

"If it is just Sparing then I see no problem." Cassandra answer, Bull bellowed out after that. "Hey what am I then?"

{Top twenty, and be happy with that!} Asaaranda yelled back, Bull shrugged.

"Ever think that the inquisition is insane?" Amethyne asked Morgana who shrugged. "They let the captain join, so they have to be." Was her answer.

###

The rest of the day was spent scouting out the site of the ambush and going over the plan, a large meal was had and the group split up for bed. To cut down on the tents the inner circle split into groups that were bigger than normal. Cassandra and Asaaranda sharing with Sera and Vivienne. Krem, Dalish, skinner and Tallis sharing another and the boys dividing up amongst themselves. Krem had tried to argue out of sharing a tent with the elven women and qunari, not wanting to be treated different.

That was solved by Tallis who told Krem that he was bunking with her so that she could teach him a few Qun tricks to make his armor more comfortable, and give him some hair and dressing tips.

"Chief help!" Krem yelled as Tallis started dragging him to the tent.

"Sorry Krem! I got on her bad side once, not happening again enjoy yourself, remember she helped raise me and Sparks she won't kill you!" Bull yelled laughing.

{Simra does not envy Krem, she knows the tricks Tallis-gran is talking about, Krem is going to have a long night!} Simra sang as she crawled into the tent, Amethyne and Morgana right behind her.

"Who gets where?" Morgana asked, eye the small tent space.

{Simra will take left side.} Simra offered, Amethyne smiled.

"Morgana can take the middle, I will take the other side." Amethyne decided and started changing, Simra glanced at her and started stripping herself.

'This is going to be a long night.' Morgana sighed to herself, trying and failing to avoid sneaking peaks at both elven women.

To her embaresement both women spotted her glances and had very different reactions. Amethyne blushed deeply and started hurrying, but still letting Morgana get better looks than before. Simra just smirked and winked, as she turned slightly to give both women a better view of just how far her marks went, which turned both women scarlet.

{Good night, try not to roll over on to Simra while having fun!} Simra told them when she was in her bright green shorts and tight tunic and wrapped in her blanket.

"N-No promises!" Amethyne stuttered, Morgana smiled at her attempt at a comeback.

"Come on Sweetie we need sleep." Morgana told her, pulling Amethyne to her.

###

Morgana woke up in the morning to a feeling that had her blushing from head to toe, Amethyne was tucked securely in her arms which was normal it was the warmth behind her that was new and causing the blush. Simra as some point in the night had ended up spooning Morgana, when she tried to move she found out two very important things. First that Simra had somehow gotten an arm under her and was helping pull Amethyne to her, and the more important one was where the other arm was. Morgana could not move without groaning on account of Simra's right hand cupping her crouch.

"Simra are you awake?" Morgana whispered, Simra groaned.

[Ma' Falon shush and sleep, it is too early.] Simra whined, magic barely translating the words.

"Fine but can you move your right hand please!" Morgana begged, biting her lips when Simra shifted her hand slightly.

{Why, it is warm?} Simra whined, Morgana blushed. "It is cupping my…" Morgana blushed heavily trying to find the words.

{Sorry, Simra did not mean to, Simra would have asked first.} Simra apologized, moving her hand over to on top of Amethyne's hips.

"I would hope so, touch my mage without asking both of use and I tell Aunt Josie." Amethyne muttered, shocking both of the other women, even more so when Simra tried to pull her arms away and Amethyne stopped her. "Your hands are warm and It is too early."

With that Morgana felt her soulmate's breathing level out into sleep again and soon followed suit, Hearing a final comment from Simra. {Simra hopes this is not a dream.} Morgana agreed as she fell back asleep.


	47. Chapter 47

Fires burning bright, the Qun's lullaby

The forces gathered in the early twilight light, Asaaranda looked at everyone grim faced and ready for combat. Pride swelled her heart as she looked at the forces willing to fight for their cause, she went over the plan one last time to insure everyone knew their parts and no mistakes would be made. Gatt an old friend of Bull's had arrived late last night after finishing his final scouting of the enemy. With the plan covered the forces split and moved into their three team.

Asaaranda and Gatt were leading one team with Cassandra, Sera and Vivienne on the team as well. Cutler and Simra were leading the second team as back up to assist either of the other teams if they needed it, Amethyne and morgana along with Dorian and cole rounded out that team. The last was Tallis and Bull along with Solas and the chargers for the final prong.

When each team was in position Asaaranda signalled with a crystal that had been broken into three pieces and enchanted to change color depending on the piece charged with magic, it changed colors twice more and as the last color faded they moved out. Gatt leading the way up the hill to get them as close as possible without being seen, once they were within range they stopped.

Once everyone had their weapons out and ready they moved, Asaaranda leapt forward with her lightning charge, killing the lead mage before anyone could move. With no way for them to signal for reinforcements the Venatori scrambled to fight back, but caught off guard and ill prepared they put up little resistance to the fighters.

Cassandra and Gatt worked well together, with Gatt darting out from behind Cassandra to strike at any exposed throats or other weak points before dancing back behind the shield maiden and her vicious darting sword. Sera and Vivienne took out the other mages quickly while Asaaranda took out the rouges with thunderous impacts leaving the rising corpses in her wake.

###

Across the valley the chargers struck at the same moment and with just as much skill. Tallis stayed back by Dalish and the other ranged chargers and let fly her arrows, each one found their mark, enemies flying with arrows in either their eyes or throats. With little effort the chargers had cleared the hill top, at once Bull and Tallis had the group resetting the defences and preparing for any counter attack.

It did not take long for the counter attack to begin to mount, almost as soon as the defences had been reset, a group of mages and warriors arrived to retake the hill. As the first warrior reached the spiked fences, an arrow slammed into his side and froze him solid. From the tree line hidden in the exact middle of the valley's perimeter came a fierce war cry, as the third team appeared a giant Qunari leading the charge with a female human and female elf at his side.

###

Amethyne slammed her shield into rouge as she reached the enemies and smoothly followed up with a thrust of her sword to end the downed rouge. An arrow whizzed by her ear and a maul swinging warrior collapsed before he could finish winding up to smash into her. Morgana was dealing with another mage when Amethyne spotted the rouge about to get her, Amethyne saw in horror she would never reach her mage in time and Simra was busy else where. Amethyne started to yell only to stop at a strange sight, a shadow flickered into being, Cole brought his knife across the enemy rouge's throat in a single smooth movement, vanishing as soon as the cut was done.

Amethyne made a note to thank the boy later, when Dorian's shout brought her back to the fight and she move to help the Tevinter mage. The rest of the battle was brief and they escaped with only a few minor cuts and bruises, as Amethyne wiped the blood off her blade the sound of Qunari cannons began sounding.

"Well that went okay." Amethyne said to no one, as she watches the ships on the water battle.

"I know, no need to thank me, she brings you happiness I will gladly protect her." A ghostly voice whispered in her ear before vanishing, Amethyne shivered at the slight chill the spirit boy left when he did that.

A call sounded for the teams to round up and get ready to leave, they wanted to be far away before any reinforcements could arrive. The Qunari Dreadnaught would be dropping off forces to hold this point for some time. Amethyne was excited to hear that Tallis and Cutler would be come back with them to help iron out the last details of the treaty.

###


	48. Chapter 48

Never mess with a mage's lab

Amethyne and Morgana opened the door to Simra's lab, Josephine had not been in her office when they had passed through to get the lab, most likely she was in the war room with the rest of the inner circle planning the assault on the temple in the wilds. Amethyne let out a low whistle at the sight of the lab, the large open space below the office of the ambassador had been changed into a workshop for Simra and Asaaranda along with any other potion worker.

Passing everything then entered a curtain offed area that held Simra's personal sweet making station, Amethyne started rooting through the bottles on the counters making Morgana very nervous. When Amethyne started to open a bottle to sniff the contents Morgana slapped her hand making the elf set the bottle down and look at her mage hurt.

"Sweetie, I was fine with looking for that spice from the sausage, but I draw the line at sniffing anything in this space that we do not know for sure what it is. This may be a sweets station but we have no idea if anything here might kill us or worse." Morgana scolded, Amethyne nodded sheepishly.

"Right no sniffing the spices, I just have no idea what any of these labels mean. I mean who uses elven for labels?" Amethyne complained, picking up another bottle and looking at it closely.

"Someone who speaks elven as a first language?" Morgana guessed, moving to examine some bottles.

Amethyne picked up a thin bottle of crimson powder, she turned to show Morgana the bottle when she bumped the counter and tripped. She let out a cry of surprise as she tripped and dropped the bottle as she tried to catch herself, the bottle smashed into the floor shattering on impact, realising a cloud of spice.

"Sweetie are you okay?" Morgana cried, as she whipped around to find Amethyne on the ground head obscured by a crimson cloud of spice.

"Better than okay!" Amethyne yelled taking another deep breath, looking at Morgana with eyes that were so dilated that her eyes colors were nearly lost.

"You have to try this stuff!... Hey wanna have sex on Simra's sweet counter, it would be really SWEET!" Amethyne started howling with laughter at her own bad pun, Morgana looked on in horror as Amethyne licked her lips and fingers clean of the powder.

"Sweetie stay here and do not touch anything I am going to get Simra." Morgana spoke and slow calm and soothing voice, betraying none of the panic she was feeling.

"Oh! I could go for a threesome, Simra and I could sandwich you!" Morgana shook her head to dispel the sexy image, running out of the room and straight for the war room.

###

Josephine and the rest of the war council sighed as one, the planning and message sending was done, now they had to wait. The doors to the war room slammed open, revealing a very panicked looking Morgana. At once the tension spiked at the appearance of the young woman, Leliana and the warden twins along with Morrigan and Simra were by her side at once.

"Amethyne and I were looking for a spice in Simra's lab, she tripped and broke a bottle with some crimson spice and now she is acting very strange!" Everyone could hear the panic in that terrified voice.

{Don't worry chocolate-thief, Simra will handle this. Ma 'Vhenan, Song-knife come with Simra, everyone else stay away!} Simra ordered and the four women vanished out the door again.

###

Josephine was just behind Simra as they crossed the curtains blocking the work tables, when Simra suddenly stopped Josie nearly crashed into her. She started to ask what was wrong when she saw her answer, Amethyne had tackled Simra and was now forcing her tongue down Simra's throat while her hands had pulled down both the pants and smalls of Simra and were fighting Simra for access to her lower lips.

With a fade step Simra was behind Amethyne and restraining her. "No fair! I wanted to be the top!" Amethyne complained, Josie finally got a full look at the drugged woman and saw she was missing her clothes.

{Stop struggling! Simra is amazed, Simra will have to be more careful with that spice!} Simra grunted, finally managing to pin the struggling elf to the floor.

"You better have a way to fix this!" Leliana snarled, Josie felt bad for her old friend seeing her adoptive daughter like this.

{Simra can fix this easily, but will need Chocolate-thief's help and around two hours for the potion to be ready. Ma 'Vhenan can take of Snarly-Knife until then, that way no one notices the problem.} Simra said, shifting to repin the elf who was still struggling against Simra.

"Alright, Morgana and I will take her to your room, I know you have straps there that can hold her." Leliana sighed, Josie blushing heavily at the reveal that her friend knew about the straps.

###

Amethyne struggled against the straps holding her to the bed, for the last hour she had tried everything to get out of these straps or at least get some friction between her legs, but it turns out that Aunt Josie knows her knots. Amethyne could feel the fire still building between her legs and in her chest and the flames even spread over her skin to a lesser degree, she needed someone to touch her to ease the pain it hurt too much to bare.

"Aunt Josie?" She called, at once her adoptive aunt was at the edge of the bed.

"Yes dear?" the voice was like a soothing balm, Amethyne had never noticed how nice that voice was.

"It burns and hurts!" She cried, nearly sobbing from the burning need for release.

"Simra is working with Morgana to make the cure, it will be just another hour." The answer drove a spike of fear through Amethyne's heart.

"I can't take it I need release, please untie me!" Amethyne begged tears in her eyes, she had taken swords through the gut that did not hurt as much.

"I can't we both know that you would regret your actions when you get better, Simra warned that uncut the drug will make you rape anyone you feel the least bit of attraction to." Amethyne heard the logic but it was unable to pierce the flames.

"I don't care if I have sex, I just need release! Please touch me! I would settle for a massage, anything just put out these flames!" Amethyne screamed, the pain far too much she started thrashing again.

Amethyne felt blessedly cool hands on her breasts as they forced her to lay flat again, she moaned wantonly as the hands smothered the flames on her chest. Shamelessly she begged for more, and to her shock the hands complied, as she panted from the groping of her chest she clued into the fact that this was her aunt she was begging. Amethyne started to tell her aunt to stop, ashamed that she was reacting to her aunt and it felt like she was cheating on Morgana and being cruel to Simra.

"Hush dear, Simra understands and would not be against it. Remember we offered you to join us, and unless I have missed my guess Morgana was tempted and you were tempted for Simra. So let me help you, just relax and let me ease this pain, after all I was the one Simra was making spice for in the first place." Aunt Josie cooed in her ear, hands wandering closer to the center of the fire.

"Do you want me to go on, or just massage and hold you off until Morgana and Simra finish the cure?" Aunt Jo… NO JUST Josie asked Amethyne and that broke the last feeble barrier she had. "Please I want to cum!" The smile that Josie had made Amethyne see her for her and not her Aunt, as two fingers slide into her burning center as a thumb began playing with her clit and her mind vanished in a wave of pleasure.

###

Amethyne woke up a day later in the same bed still tied down, but there was now two more people in the room with her, Simra and Morgana were sitting on the edge of the bed checking her over. Simra smiled when she saw Amethyne awake and Morgana was nearly crushing Amethyne when she saw her soulmate awake.

"You ever scare me like that again and… I will never sleep in the same room as you again!" Amethyne saw the tears in her eyes and felt guilty, she gently kissed the tears away.

{Simra hates to ruin this moment, but Simra would like her bed back sometime soon. Unless Snarky-Knife and Chocolate-Thief are going to let Simra play with them like Snarky was doing with Ma 'Vhenan you two need to leave, Simra wants a nap.} Josie made a choking Nosie in the background, Morgana turned scarlet as did Amethyne as all four females remembered the scene Morgana and Simra had walked in on.

"Ah… Maybe tomorrow? I am a little sensitive after that and I want to eat something sweet before hand and hope you guys do to…" Amethyne licking her lips as she remembers Morgana nearly fainted when she had walked in on Amethyne and Josie eating each other out.

"That might be wise" Agreed Morgana who still was crimson red as she untied Amethyne and helped her get dressed before slipping out of the room.


	49. Chapter 49 Armies gather

An army gathers

It had taken nearly three weeks for all the armies to gather, in that time the elder one's forces had also arrived but seemed unable to breach the forests defences. Elves who were clearly not dalish or anything else had been fighting the red templars and every other soul who dared to approach the forest, wisely the armies remained a safe distance. The armies were far from idle while they waited for all the forces and allies to gather, they constantly harried the edges of the red templar forces.

It was late afternoon when the last army arrived with the Raider captains and their hand-picked crew, the war council had wasted no time gathering to go over the plan. It was a simple plan overall, the armies would remain outside of the forest to hopefully avoid fighting on two fronts, while a small team entered the forest to reach the temple. The team going in was made up purely of those skilled in stealth, the hope was to avoid conflict with these new elves, even though all attempts to contact them peacefully had failed.

After the long council mission, Taeris gave Morgana and Amethyne run of the camp until they would need to gather for the battle tomorrow. Amethyne wandered the camp alone, Morgana had begged off exploring wanting to catch up with her trainers. Simra had vanished somewhere with Sera, and trapper from the Valo-Kos, so Amethyne wandered looking for some chocolate for Morgana.

"Remember to duck tomorrow, we do not want your face scarred on the day that your soulmate loses to demons." Amethyne whirled to tell off the voice, but stopped short at the sight Resentment in Daniel's body.

"What are you talking about!" Amethyne growled at the demon hybrid, resentment looked deeply at her.

"we guess you never knew, about the quartet of demon that await her moment of weakness. A single slip and one of the strongest monsters would be born, what could be a better slip than the fall of her own soulmate?" Resentment asked is a causal tone, Amethyne felt her blood run cold at the thought she had missed her mage fighting a battle this whole time.

"So what duck and all will be good?" Amethyne asked, not even close to believing the creature.

"No, she is doomed to fall and fall very soon… Well that is without any form of protection that is." Amethyne glared, but the creature just watched calmly.

"Yeah right resentment and want would be the price my body?" Amethyne asked, shifting her weight to one side and crossing her arms.

"we do not need another body. Your treasures are another matter, the arms of your family and you when you fall in battle… and your most precious memories, in exchange for a lifetime of protection from possession for both sounds fair." Resentment smiled while Amethyne glared and stormed off.

"The offer stands, come to my tent if you want to accept!" Resentment called after her, Amethyne clenched her teeth to stop from yelling back.

Her mind spun with questions and a need for answers, settling on a question she set off for the mage's area of the camp. When she arrived, she crossed over the bounds of the wards without breaking stride, casting about she found her mage and stormed over. Grabbing her wrist Amethyne dragged Morgana behind a cart and spun to look at her, Morgana looked highly concern and reached out to Amethyne but she stepped out of her reach, the look of hurt on her mage's face hurt but Amethyne needed the truth.

"Is there really a quartet of demons waiting to take over you?" Amethyne asked bluntly, the expressions on Morgana's face told her the answer, surprise, fear, and finally guilt.

"Yes, it is true. I am sorry Sweetie, when we first met you were so pure and happy that I could not burden you with it. Later it was too awkward, Taeris had forbidden you from knowing until you turned eighteen." Morgana explained not meeting her eyes, Amethyne sighed and pulled her into a hug.

"Morgana I know you meant well, but I can't be left out like this. Taeris wanted you to wait until I was strong enough, if you did not trust me why not at least trust Taeris?" Amethyne asked, Morgana hugged her back tightly.

"It was not a matter of trust sweetie, I did not want you to have to burden yourself with this." "We are soulmates, we are suppose to share burdens."

The pair moved apart, Morgana smiled weakly. "I know, I will do better next time, when we get a proper bed sweetie I will make it up to you." Morgana kissed her deeply, Amethyne could feel the love and care in the kiss and melted into it.

"I have to get back to the others, we were in the middle of laying out the ward plans for tomorrow. Join me for supper tonight?" Amethyne smiled, glad that they could get over things so fast, nodding she let Morgana go.

The moment Morgana vanished from view the smile slipped from her face, Amethyne turned and headed for the only spot she could think to check for her next target this close to meal time. She had to hurry, she could not miss supper with her mage but she also needed some more answers. She reached the camp of the Valo-Kos and inner circle, to her relief she saw Simra sitting on her own mending some arrows.

"Simra, I need to ask you some questions about Resentment." Amethyne started, Simra pulled out a strange carved stake and stabbed it into the ground before lighting it with magic.

{Simra has warded this area so no ears or eyes can tell our talks Snarky-Knife. Tell Simra what Snarky-Knife needs to know about Resentment?} Simra asked, Amethyne sat on a stump opposite Simra.

"If he said someone was going to fell to possession how much could he be trusted. Also if he offered protection from Possession for a lifetime could he really?" Amethyne asked, Simra looked at her with a glare before sighing and looking sad.

[I will not ask who or why, I know that you would have gone to Asaaranda for it. I hate that demon, but he is never wrong and is more than powerful to keep a person from possession their entire lives.] Amethyne shivered at the serious attitude Simra had, nodding her thanks she left quietly.

After a happy supper with the inner circle and the Valo-Kos, Amethyne slipped away, promising Morgana to meet her at the tent. On her way to supper she had seen Resentment lounging in front of a tent, making her way back to the tent she opened the flap and walked in to find the creature sitting on the edge of the cot.

"You have a deal." Was all she said, Resentment smiled. "Pleasure doing business with you, I will lay the ground work spells tonight and stand ready tomorrow. Remember every time you lose a family member their armor and weapons belong to me. Now come here and I will take my first payment."

Amethyne approached, and Resentment laid a hand on her forehead. Like a rapid-fire slide show, she saw memories, her first true praises from both parents in their lessons, her meeting with Morgana, meeting Cutler, the day her uncle named her an officer, losing her virginity to Morgana. When it ended she could not remember what she lost or why she felt like crying.

"Thank you, now we have what we need to protect you both, now go leave us." Resentment ushered her out of the tent.

Reaching her tent in a daze, Amethyne simply collapsed into Morgana's concerned arms and cried herself to sleep, weeping for memories she could not remember.


	50. Chapter 50 War is not without cost

Battlefield: demons war amongst each other.

The sun had not even begun to sun itself and the Inquisition army was already moving into position in the twilight hours where the shadows blended with light, Amethyne hated that she was no where near Morgana for the first part of the battle; Captain Taeris had been clear about their roles she was in the heavy cavalry and Morgana was to ride with the war mages. Even in the predawn light she could still spot the flames of the enemy camp and catch movement of the larger monsters, to see those things made her sick at the thought some of them might have just been people with nowhere else to go.

The flaps of the command tent at the rear of the lines suddenly opened and Cullen came out signalling a runner to raise the signal flags, all down the line of forces muffled movement could be heard as the soldiers rose carefully to lessen the chance of their movements where found out early. Amethyne's group moved forward leading their mounts on foot, lessening the chance of being skylined against the morning twilight moving over the ground Amethyne noticed the morning fog was thicker than normal and not moving as much. Her talks with Simra and the other mages on the Val-Kas let her notice these changes and to know that this was the work of the fog warrior trained mages and rouges among them, this early morning 'Fog' would help keep their movements unseen and unheard.

"Mount up." The whispered order came down the line of cavalry, with her armor wrapped in muffling cloth she swung up into her saddle with a muffled clatter.

'Forward walk' came a flag signal, this was it, the time where if they were spotted too soon she and the other fighters would be unable to retreat to ally lines.

Five tense minutes later they had finally managed to reach the hill overlooking the enemy's left flank, with Sata-Kas sitting in the center of their group keeping the fog thick around them to hide; a war horn torn through the air as fireballs rained down on the unprepared army, as the Venatori forces scrambled to rally a group of light cavalrymen slammed into their lines breaking them and wounding several before wheeling and retreating. After the third round was deflected Amethyne saw her groups flag make the signalling gesture and the kicked their horses into a steady trot, with their heavy armor and weapons the horses were kept trotting until the last minute.

'Charge!' was what the spear flag lowering to level meant, and as one the heavy cavalry spurred their horses to a full gallop; her flames of the Inquisition snorted and leapt forward with a thundering gallop, the enemy on the left flank were the first to notice them but it was already to defend against it. The fighters on the front line of their own forces moved apart for the next cavalry charge, the enemy was expecting a simple light cavalry charge like the one they had deflected last time; what happened instead caused massive panic and fear along with confusion as three heavy cavalry units slammed into them one on each flank and a third that crashed straight into the front lines.

Shokrakar was the war leader for the fight as no one else was as experienced with leading forces with such diverse backgrounds and training, her opening gambit was one that relied on three forces moving in tandem with each other and her opponents being unable to find their own rhythm. By using her mages and fighters she knocked them off balance from the start and used the light cavalry to draw them into her rhythm, the moment the light cavalry was deflected rather than being able to pierce the front like the heavy groups were to charge. With three heavy forces breaking the lines on all sides the enemy would be broken and far easier prey from the soldiers.

Amethyne and her group began their retreat out of the fray to regroup before their unit became separated, she noticed the creature lumbering towards them at the same time as her unit; a total of three behemoths had been seen and random chance had one of the behemoths moved in the night when it got in a fight with the others of its kind. That move had placed it in the right position to catch the unit at the point they were the most vulnerable, and Amethyne was on the outside of the Unit's formation so when the large club of lyrium that served as its arm came smashing into their unit she was hit straight on.

Her horse left the ground as it was tossed by the club, her horse being hit first saved her as the club hit her after she was already being thrown and it lessened the impact, she still felt and saw her shield shatter and felt the bones underneath do the same. The blow sent her flying and unhorsed her, again saving her left as she was able to roll with the impact and land safely. The rest of her unit managed to break free and kept riding, this was war and Amethyne knew to stay would kill them and her, gritting her teeth and dodging a sword swing by an enemy she glanced around for a weapon; with how well trained her horse had been her weapons needed to be strapped to her saddle or the bounce of her weapon would have confused the beast. Sata-Kas had also been unhorsed but she had since vanished in the fray but the sounds of Qunlat cursing told Amethyne she was still alive.

Seeing a sword laying next to a corpse, she leapt for it, ignoring the pain as she picked it up and began fighting her way back to her side. A wave of ice barely missed her instead took out the fighters that had been about to ambush her, she saw Morgana the other war mages making headway into the enemy lines; Arcill was whistling as he and Sata-Kas, who had found her way there after retrieving her spear, cut through the enemy in perfect tandem. Amethyne moved forward staggering as her leg screamed, making it clear she at least fractured it. She saw Morgana cut a maul wielder in half and Amethyne saw a spearmen leap up from the pile of dead and go to kill her mage, Amethyne ignoring her broken bones and cuts leapt forward smashing into Morgana and throwing her out of the way; she caught the spear thrust in a glancing blow just above her right eyebrow.

Snarling she parried the next thrust and used the opening to drive her sword into the man, who looked shocked as he collapsed. Amethyne turned make sure her mage was all right, a sharp pain in her right side made her gasp and stagger falling to her knees to see a spear sticking out of her back; the dying spearman's blind thrust of his spear found a gap in her plating that had been opened in her unhorsing.

"Amethyne!" Morgana screamed, but Amethyne thought is was odd how quiet her scream was, and why the blurring was not clearing.

'Fucking blood loss.' Amethyne thought vaguely as she realized she was dying.

Morgana scrambled to Amethyne's side and began pouring her magic into her, healing was her strength but even she was horrified at the extent of damage Amethyne had. She was bleeding out faster than she seal, and the spear was still lodged in her side Morgana cursed that she could not pull it out as the haft had broken off in her fall and that meant she would need to take the armor off but she did not have time to pry it off. With every second her soulmate was dying, and Morgana could feel her soul mark starting to burn, cursing she started to use force magic to pull the armor apart Arcill and Sata-Kas along with others were holding the enemy back while she worked, the moment she yanked with her magic the worst thing happened.

A piece of her armor shattered, and the shard caught in her magic shot off, right across Amethyne's throat Morgana saw this happen in slow motion as her magic cause the armor shard to cut Amethyne's throat; the arteries opened began spraying out the lifeblood. Morgana tried to heal the cut but when she tried to she realized something, she could pick only one of three arteries cut.

"Help! Please, Someone!" Morgana cried, Arcill and Sata cursed at the sight of her trying to stop the flow but before they could help another wave of enemies.

'How about us sweetie? We can give you the power you just need to let us in.' Lust one of the four demons that haunted her purred.

"Fine you can have me, just save her please!" Morgana begged with tears in her eyes, she felt the Demons start to take control only to be thrown out of her body and into four soldiers behind her.

"What who dares take our prey!?" Arrogance roared, only for a harsh brimstone grinding laugh to answer.

"First come first serve my brothers." Resentment taunted as it walked forward, Four undead with black mist rose up from behind them and stabbed them Morgana could feel their essence being devoured until they were gone.

"I needed them to save her!" Morgana screamed at the creature who laughed, and pushed her over onto her releasing the pressure she had been keeping on her soulmate's throat.

Before she could scream a black mist rose from the ground and seeped into Amethyne, the blood stopped at once and Morgana watched in amazement as the armor vanished along with the spear and sword Amethyne had been using; the undead swarmed around the fighters turning the tide as unlike his avatar Asaaranda his undead did not fall when they killed someone they only slowed. Amethyne suddenly gasped and the mist retreated as Amethyne rolled over and on all four began hurling, to Morgana's horror she saw it was blood she was throwing up.

"You know just because we made a deal does not mean you can ignore my advice girl, I don't like it when my workers don't listen to me. Next time I need to save you I will be taking more of your memories, better hope that your captain's lessons are as good for none mages as they are for mages. Oh by the way, my mist has changed you by merely touching you, demons will flock to you so try to attract good ones my little staking goat." With that Resentment walked off causally beheading as warrior that tried to attack it.

"Amethyne!" Morgana yelled as she tackled Amethyne, noticing that they were the only ones around as the battle raged forward.

"Morga-Ahhh!" Amethyne screamed, Morgana pulled back like she had been burned and it was then that she noticed the broken leg and arm, all life threating wounds and bleeding ones had been healed but not the bones.

"Sorry sweetie, this is all my fault I should not have used my force magic!" Morgana sobbed as she healed wounded her soulmate, noticing the faint but clearly there line across Amethyne's throat.

"It would not have helped, Resentment knew this was going to happen and told me ahead of time… and I made a deal." Amethyne admitted.

"What did you give him?" Morgana demanded, frightened that her own weakness had caused her soulmate to damn herself.

"When a member of my family dies it will claim their weapons, and for an up front payment it demanded my most precious memories. That is why I cried last night, I could not remember the first time we met, the first time we kissed, the first time we made love, or any of my treasured first!" Amethyne cried, Morgana simply held her and they cried together alone among a field of dead.

'This battle better be worth it.' Morgana thought bitterly as she held her soulmate, one crying for the loss of her memory and Morgana for the knowledge that she had caused it.


	51. Chapter 51

Aftermath Amethyne is in trouble

The army of the elder one had been routed and was on the retreat, rather than pressing the attack and getting caught in off guard in a territory that was unknown to a large portion of the army the forces split up the bulk returning home and a force with more experience with the area staying to ensure that the enemies did not return. The inquisition's leaders had already left only Leliana remained to help oversee the movements; the herald, Simra, Sera, Varric, and Morrigan had reached Skyhold through the magic mirrors and were waiting there for the rest to return, the raider crew and Leliana would be leaving once they had dealt with a final issue.

"You made a deal with a demon, without consulting anyone?" Taeris asked to start the meeting, which was made of Leliana, Taeris, Silva, Morgana, and Resentment all sitting inside the command tent.

"We are not a demon, we are a spirit." Resentment countered, voice like grinding brimstone.

"Not really a point here Resentment, it is more of the deal!" Leliana snapped glaring at the creature who shrugged.

"I consulted Simra about it first, if I had brought it up with anyone else the plan would have changed and we could have lost." Amethyne defended, wilting slightly under the glare of her uncle, Morgana still refused to look at her.

"My gem this is about what you promised to give up, you affected more than yourself." Leliana scolded, looking rather mad about this.

"If you had not kept Morgana's possession from me I would not have had to make the deal!" Amethyne snapped, Taeris and Silva glared at Morgana.

"I believe I had told you to tell her about them Morgana." Taeris's voice was as cold as ice, Silva looked equally unhappy.

"It never seemed like the right time and it never was an issue." Morgana defended, Silva sighed. "This is not about that we will be talking about that later Morgana and make no mistake it will happen and not put off because 'it did not seem like the right time' understood?" Silva glared hard at the mage who meekly nodded and agreed.

"All right, what possessed you to think that this deal was needed." Taeris asked, Amethyne could tell her uncle was keeping his rage in check barely.

"You told us that your methods blocked against demons we had never encountered, but Resentment pointed out that Morgana's demons were old and had been with her since the tower." Amethyne defended, Taeris her parents and uncle looked thoughtful, so Amethyne pressed the attack.

"Also it was a guarantee of the survival for both Morgana and I." Amethyne pressed, Resentment looked at the group bored.

"Well we guess we can give up on our fake price, we did want those weapons but fighting the lot of you would be a bother for us. The power provided by the demons hunting Amethyne will suffice for protection against demons for both and her memories for each time we must save her life that is the price. We will be taking our leave now." With that Resentment stood picking up it's shield and great sword before heading to join the raider troops waiting to move out.

"That Demon tricked you, it wanted power born from feasting on it's kin the weapons were a lure, sear this into your memories and do better. You will have a lot of time to think this over when you are washing the dishes for the next month." Taeris growled before stalking out of the tent, Amethyne hung her head in shame at the disappointment in her uncle's voice.

"Morgana you are on laundry duty for the next week." Silva decreed a dismissal clear in her tone, Morgana looked like she wanted to protest and try to defend her soulmate but Amethyne shook her head and she left without a word.

"Now as for you, Amethyne because like a foolish child you went behind the backs of your parents and you uncle, you will be treated and punished like one." Leliana told her, moving from her spot near Silva to sit in a chair in the corner with a raised eyebrow.

"I am twenty! I am too old for that!" Amethyne protests, her mama just looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

Grumbling Amethyne moved over to her mama undoing her belt as she did, she laid herself across Leliana's knees, her mom yanked her trousers and panties down to her knees making Amethyne shiver from the chill. Her mothers share a look and Amethyne can see they are arguing over the number, and it is not going in her favor.

"Fifteen on each cheek, you will count every pair." Leliana told her, Amethyne nodded red faced from shame of being spanked at her age. "Yes mama." She said through gritted teeth.

Crack! The first hit on her right cheek made her yelp from pain and shock, the second one she was braced for and when it came she gritted out her count. The second ones landed right above the previous ones then directly under the first, before going to the exact spot of the first making it sting all across her ass and the cool morning air in the tent made her cheeks burn all the more. By the time she was done her eyes were spilling tears from the pain and shame.

"Done pull your panties and pants back on and get saddled, we are riding hard for Skyhold. You are to not use a blanket or stand in the saddle on the way back or use any salves if Morgana heals you both of you will get the same again but in front of the inquisitor's court. Now get out." Silva ordered, Amethyne kept her mouth shut and tried to leave the tent with as much dignity as a twenty-year-old having to pull her panties and trousers up after being spanked by her mama could have.


	52. Chapter 52

Family reunion

[Skyhold one week after the battle]

Asaaranda was heading to the garden when she hear a commotion, jogging into the garden she was flagged down by Leliana who led her to the room where the Eluvian was being kept.

{What is the matter, what were you yelling to Morrigan?} Asaara asked as she looked at the portal, the was open and clearly not leading to the crossroads she had seen before.

"Kieran ran into the portal and Morrigan ran after him, without waiting. Inquisitor I have never seen her this way, please go after her I will find others to help." Leliana explained, Asaara nodded.

{Alright, get Solas, Simra and our other mages, if I am not back in a candle mark send them in after us.} Asaara ordered as she headed into the portal glad, she carried a pair of daggers with her at all times.

As soon as she had crossed the threshold she knew at once where she was truly. The Fade. Somehow Kieran had forced the Eluvian to link to the fade instead of the crossroads. Asaara raced through the fade keeping an eye out for both Morrigan and creatures of the Fade, it did not take her long to find her.

{Morrigan! Have you found your son yet?} Asaara asked as soon as she reached the witch who shook her head looking for the first time Asaara could recall scared.

"No, I don't know how he could have done this, to direct the Eluvian here would require immense power… I can't lose him now I set him on this path, please Inquisitor help me look even if for a little longer." Morrigan begged, Asaara could tell she was hiding something about the child.

{What is your son, he is different than any encountered in my travels.} Asaara demanded, the boy had proven strange time and time again to the point that Simra even refused to be near the boy.

"It does not matter now! My son is lost in the fade! Whatever reason or plan I had for him before he was born long since died out, I just want the best for my Son." Morrigan yelled, a rasping chough interrupted the pair.

Sitting atop a rock was a figure Asaara had thought herself rid of, Resentment sat on the rock looking at them.

"The boy with the old god soul is in the clearing down the path with the Vessel of Mythal. Hurry and finish your duty here and leave, having Mythal in my area of the fade again makes my treasures conflicted and I don't like that." With that Resentment vanished in a puff of black smoke.

{Old god… That is how the warden's survived, old warden records stated a warden had to die to end the blight but none had died during the last battle of the last blight.} Asaaranda looked at Morrigan who looked ashamed.

"I had been sent to help the wardens and to use the ritual, to preserve the power of the old gods, but my love and raising Kieran showed me that using Kieran in that way was wrong I do not regret my choice because it save my love but I wish every time I hold my son soothing the nightmares away that I could do more. I will not let my mistakes be his to pay, now come let us get my son." Morrigan explained heading down the path.

Morrigan and Asaaranda rounded the last bend to find a sight that brought Asaara to a stop but made Morrigan rush in; Kieran and Flemeth wreathed in an ethereal wisping light. Asaara had met Flemeth once before after leaving Kirkwall with the Eluvian. Morrigan was nearly upon them staff raised when her magic suddenly vanished and she was frozen in place.

"Foolish girl, the voices should have warned you that would not work, you never were good at listening." Flemeth scolded, Morrigan collapsing to the ground with Kieran rushing to her.

"What did you do to my son?" Morrigan growled, Asaara walked up to watch the family reunion.

Flemeth was about to respond when a bolt of fire seared through the air and exploded against a shield Flemeth raised just in time, from behind Asaara walked Taeris who glowed with an inner light. Taeris planted himself firmly between Morrigan and Flemeth.

"I thought it was too easy all those years ago, I had guessed you had lived through the death since it was too easy." Taeris growled, Flemeth laughed.

"Clever boy aren't you, no wonder it took so much work to get the Kieran to come here your wards are impressive." Flemeth praised, before looking at Morrigan. "All I did was take the old god soul, after all you have no need of it and I do. Now your son is free as are you, after all my girl a soul can not be forced on the unwilling you were never in danger from me." Taeris scoffed.

"My sister in Law disagrees on the no danger part since you have killed other daughters of yours in the past." Taeris growled, Flemeth smirked.

"Ah, true but they sought the power for themselves while Morrigan simply wanted to flee my 'evil grasp'." Flemeth countered.

"ENOUGH!" Resentment screamed from the edge of the clearing. "You have your boy, and you have your old god soul so leave my domain at once!"

"Resentment, Fenharel's old lap dog." Flemeth greeted, Resentment only made a shooing gesture.

"Very well I will leave… Morrigan listen to the voices they will teach you as I never did." With that Flemeth turned and walked away.

"The rest of you leave as well." Resentment ordered and before they could blink, they were moved to the Eluvian instantly.

"Do not come back." Resentment ordered before sending them flying out.

###

{What did Flemeth mean?} Asaara asked Morrigan, who looked to the distance for a moment.

"They are telling me the means to defeat his dragon, it will take time to prepare the spell but I will be able to defeat the dragon when the time comes." Morrigan explained.

"That is for later Inquisitor I am taking my wife and son to our rooms to rest we can speak tomorrow." Taeris stated and herded his family out without another word.

Asaaranda updated the advisors and sat on her balcony staring out at the sky, Cassandra joined her but neither said a word just enjoying each other's company sensing the final battle was drawing near.


	53. Chapter 53

Beginning of the End

[Day after encountering Flemeth in the fade]

Asaaranda was woken by an urgent banging on her door, growling and slipping out of bed she stalked down the stairs to wrench the door open. Jim the guard gawked at the inquisitor's naked body for a brief second before snapped to attention and looking her straight in the eyes.

"Sister nightingale requests yourself and Seeker Pentaghast in the war room at once, she was very clear that it was of the upmost importance ma'am!" Jim informed her with a salute.

{Fine we will be there shortly, have the cooks send breakfast to there at once.} she ordered, only Jim to salute while slightly smiling.

"Already done ma'am I sent a runner to the cooks on my way here." With that Jim turned and jogged away.

Asaara climbed the stairs only to be hit with her underclothes, Cassandra was up and already strapping into her armor. Asaara smiled and began dressing.

###

{War room}

Once the inner circle was gathered Leliana began grim faced.

"Corypheus's forces are on the move, and they will arrive at our gates before the day's end." Silence followed the statement.

"How did he get so close without your spies noticing!" Cullen demanded, Leliana looked at him unfazed.

"Because you had our forces marching the same way templar's do, which most of their forces were. They stole armor and flags from our dead and hid their larger forces in wagons. It was only when the forces got close enough that spies could see their flags were from groups lost in battle that we became aware of the trap." Leliana countered coldly.

"His army got it's teeth kicked in during out last fight even if we only have the Wardens, the Chargers, Pirates and Valo-Kos this place won't fall before our army gets here and traps them between us." Bull remined, Dorian looked uneasy.

"What is he planning then?" Dorian asked, and as if in answer the Anchor started flaring.

{Whatever it is he is trying something with the orb.} Asaara growled as pain flared up her arm.

{Simra thinks she knows, Elder-shite is messing with the Breach.} Simra called as she pointed to the windows where the breach was writhing and pulsing.

As they watched the sky a raven cross the window pane and a few moments later an Agent came barreling into the room holding a rolled up scroll. With a nod Leliana took the scroll, her face darkening as she read the scroll.

"It appears they no longer care about concealing themselves, they are dropping their disguise and appear to be getting ready to force march, so they will be here within two hours. They already have cut off the path to the ruins of Haven." Leliana informed them, Cullen cursed loudly.

{We need to get to the breach, is there any other path to haven?} Asaara asked, Cullen shook his head.

"We can not leave Skyhold defenseless and we have not way to get our forces out past them." Cullen answered.

"Perhaps we can send word to our forces outside and have them head to the temple to stall?" Joise suggested, but Leliana shook her head.

"Even if we did that, it would still take them another day to reach it." Leliana sighed.

"Owhow about we use your sneaky tunnels and the spook mines and reach the place that way?" Sera asked, Cullen shook his head.

"We can not move a large force through there fast enough, and it would leave Skyhold defenceless." Cullen countered buy Sera looked at him like he was stupid.

"Not your 'Forces' 'we' as in us of the heralds party, she is the only one who can stop this so we go to protect her while she does her heraldly things." Sera explained slowly.

"A clever plan my dear." Vivienne praised.

"Sounds good but Boss I am staying here to lead the Chargers." Bulls piped up seconded by Shokorha and the pirate captains.

"I will be going with the Herald, I will be needed to deal with the dragon." Morrigan stated, Asaara nodded.

"All right the rest of us will head out then, shall we all meet in the undercroft in half an hour?" Varric suggested the rest nodded and those heading out quickly left to get ready.

###

{undercroft}

With a last few goodbyes the group headed down a small hidden path leading into the mountain itself, undoing several large doors that locked themselves behind them. Soon enough the entered the old abandoned mines.

"How will we not get lost?" Sera asked, looking around, jumping with a screaming Vivienne's arms when Cole spoke from right behind her.

"The wisps know these tunnels they like to play here, Simra is there friend and friends help friends." Cole explained, Vivienne frowned at Cole before raising an eyebrow at Sera and dropping her.

"Ow, your kissing it better later." Sera muttered, Vivienne only laughed politely.

"Deary, it would not be the first time, though try to last longer this time." Sera turned pink in the ears.

{Simra did not need to know about Vivi eating out Sera-sister's ass.} Simra groused as she led the group deeper into the tunnels.

"Vines that is how we felt when you were drunk and started rambling about how favorite positions." Varric explained, to which Simra shrugged.

{Fair point Tale-Spinner.} Simra remarked before making a turn down a tunnel and the group fell into a comfortable silence.

Notes:

Yep even more changes there was not really an cool thing for our friends to be doing back at main base(Also needed most of the OCs out of my way.)


	54. Chapter 54

Doom upon the World

{The ruins of temple of sacred ashes.}

"It could not have been more than a couple of hours, how have we gotten here already?" Dorian asked as Simra led them out of a tunnel.

"We took the most direct path without many obstacles and smooth terrain, we also did not have starving and scared people slowing us down this time." Cassandra explained, nearly walking into Asaara as she stopped, holding her hand.

"What-" Crunch! The rock surrounding them began to shift and groan.

"Run for the breach!" Vivienne yelled, Grabbing Sera and Fade stepping towards the breach. Dorian followed quickly behind grabbing Varric before pyro-fade stepping; Varric made a noise of protest as he was dragged along. Cole held on to Solas as he also leapt into a fade step. Morrigan turned into a raven taking wing, Cassandra noted she headed for a different direction than the rest, trusting her to do her job; Cassandra turned to grab on to Asaara only to be picked up bridal style by Simra and she felt the gut wrenching shift she always felt as she was fade stepped. Asaara landed next to them in a bolt of purple lightning.

Bright flashes from within the ruins signaled they were not alone, Corypheus stepped out with a sneer on his face. With a final twist of wrist holding the orb the ground shook violently as it broke from the mountain and large chucks of the ruins floated into the sky. The largest being the one they stood upon.

"You have been a thorn in my side for too long. Even now you stand here challenging me for the power to be a god. Both of us may have the items needed I am destined to it where as you are nothing but a mistake like your race." He gloated.

Asaara simply looked at him before making a rude gesture.

"I have no time to waste upon you." Corypheus proclaimed before creating several small rifts that let several demons pass through.

[Dorian, Cole, Solas Varric and I will deal with these the rest go after Corypheus] Simra ordered slipping into first person and elven as she dove into the mass of shades and terror demons.

{Right. Move out!} Asaaranda ordered bulldozing her way forward with a lightning step that cleared the path.

As they climbed into the ruins, they heard Simra yell over the fighting the Valo-Kos war cry, only used by her and Asaara in truly important battles. [LET'S GET THEM!]

They raced through the ruins coming to what looked like a broke great hall, Corypheus stood in the center raising the orb high into the sky. When they approached, he looked at them with distain.

"Still you struggle against fate, I will be a god your maker is false!" He yelled as his dragon screamed descending from the swirling clouds.

Before it could attack another dragon smashed into the beast's side knocking it off course, the two beasts clawed and fought as they fell from the sky. Asaara seized her chance and leapt across the room coated in lighting she tried sever the arm holding the orb only for him to fade step away but not fast enough, instead losing his left arm; when his step finished, he screamed in pain summoning more demons to fight.

{Stall for time, once the dragon is down, kill him!} Asaara ordered, Sera groaned but shot a shade between the eyes.

"Your bestial tongue means nothing to me." Corypheus taunted.

The fight was beginning to drag as more and more shade's fell while Corypheus kept fade stepping away and shooting when he could, but he was covered in light and deep wounds. Asaara was panting as she felt her flames flickering lower, she had switched to the flames since they were less consuming to use; Sera had begun used her daggers instead of her bow having run out of ammo. The Blighted dragon let out a scream that was cut short by a cracking sound, followed by a roar of triumph from Morrigan in dragon form.

Before the roar could finish echoing Asaara acted, thrusting the mark out she pulled with its power and the orb shot from Corypheus's weakened grasp and into her hand. Looking at the source of so much trouble she grimaced and braced herself, thrusting her hand into the sky she began to seal the breach instead of pain she felt nothing but a slight drain of her power; the orb and mark together again no pain was needed. Within moments that breach was sealed, letting the orb float in her hand she approached the weakened monster who had fallen to his knees.

"I was destined to be a god not you, your race was a mistake you will never be a god!" Corypheus spat at her.

{I don't want to be one, but if you wanted to be in the fade so bad, I will let you be a part of it.} Asaaranda coldly told the creature before creating a rift within his chest, with a scream of pain Corypheus was torn apart and destroyed and with not mortal anchor in the form of his dragon his was dead for good.

Asaara began to feel the weight of a massive spell draining her, the orb was pulling on her power to control the spell holding the ruins a float. With all the control she could muster she gently sent the ruins down and sent out a pulse to seal the remaining rifts, with had she collapsed to her knees.

{Kadan!} Cassandra yelled running up to her.

{I am fine, just very tired.} Asaara answered.

"What did she say I could not understand that Qun babble?" Sera asked, Asaara was so out of magic she could not longer use the demon tongue spell.

"She is just tired." Cassandra answered.

"As are we all, it would be best to find shelter, Skyhold will have to hold out without us. Come Seeker help me with our dear herald, we should meet up with the others." Vivienne explained.

The group slowly made its way back down, Asaara even weakened still holding the orb. The group took Refuge in a nearby mine tunnel and made camp. Asaara fell asleep with the held protective in her left arm and the Seeker in the right.

[The mark will kill her won't it.] Simra whispered to Solas. As they stood guard at the tunnel entrance.

[Yes, even with the orb it will keep spreading, my magic is near its limits she has another three and half years with the orb, the last half year being one of pain and suffering unlike anything she has known… but you know this while she does, not don't you?] Solas asked Simra who looked at him and smiled sadly.

[it is all fake, your entire persona, you have played them all for fools.] Solas demanded, Simra smirked.

[You are not the only great actor Fen'harel, but no it is not a complete lie. I was originally like the Simra they all know but that Simra died aboard wagon when she learned of her clan's death, I play this role to ease the pain and if you play it long enough you even start to believe it.] Simra smiled showing off her teeth.

[Does she know?] [Yes, her and Josie know, Cassandra will know in time, Leliana suspects but can not prove it.] Simra confirmed.

[You know what needs to be done to save her?] Solas asked, Simra looked sadly at Asaaranda's sleeping figure.

[Yes, she will not take it well, nor will Cassandra but I will make sure they agree. Just remember your promise Fen'harel.] Simra answered.

[I will, even if I must wait thousands of years, I will bring down the veil without destroying the world.] Solas agreed, Simra nodded and the rest of the shift was spent in silence.


	55. Chapter 55

Epilogue: The End for now…

[Skyhold day after the fight.]

Asaara and the others arrived at Skyhold to find a strange site, the Army of Corypheus was defeated and those who had remained to the end had been killed and the bodies and supplies of the army was being burnt in magic laced cleansing fire. The Valo-Kos were handling the fires as they had the most experience with dealing the blight and the burning of it; born from serving during the Blight.

The group entered the castle to cheers and Josie rushing around arranging a feast, Simra had been acting like her normal self but once they crossed the threshold she greeted Josie with her normal passion before begging off of helping and vanished into the castle and to her lab.

Sera got dragged off by Vivienne by her ear. "Ow! Hey come on let go, Simra is not going why do I have to get dressed up?" Sera demanded as she was dragged off.

"Because Darling I will not be seen without my soulmate on my arm, and I will not give them an excuse like your outfit to mock you." Vivienne calmly replied.

"Oh, dear I don't think Arcill has a formal outfit." Dorian sighed, Asaara laughed.

"He will brush his bear pelt and wear a shirt without stains, that is your best hope." Sata-Kas joked as she walked up with Krem on her arm.

"Will you be wearing any formal gear?" Krem asked, Sata smiled wolfishly.

"I guess I can dig my fancy gear out, I normally wear it when acting as a translator for Shokrakar with nobles she does not like. Well I guess I need to go get ready, so stay out of my room lover boy I will meet you at the party." Sata-Kas ordered before walking away.

{Huh, you are in for a treat Krem.} Asaara remarked before heading off with Cassandra to get ready for the party.

###

Krem stood near the fire that Varric had claimed with chatting with Dorian as he waited for the rest of the guest to arrive, he was ordered by the chief to be there since he was the second in command and needed to be their, unlike most of the Chargers and Valo-kos who were down at the tavern.

"So when are you leaving for your country?" Krem asked Dorian, who sighed heavily.

"I leave tomorrow sadly, meaning no heavy drinking. Arcill promised to come visit but sadly I have to go since my father's tragic accident I have inherited his title; if I am going to start reforming the place I have to be there myself." Dorian answered, Krem clapped him on the shoulder feeling odd in his light dress clothes.

"I don't envy…" Krem trailed off as he caught sight of a figure moving through the crowd.

Krem watched as a refined woman walked through the crowd, she wore a rich forest green doublet laced tightly with an inlayed and engraved leather chest piece that protected her but accented her curves; her leggings were a matching green with thigh high boots that also had protection built in and a matching pair of fingerless gloves. Her long white hair was braided into a crown with glints of silver in it revealing the spikes hidden with to prevent people from grabbing it. Krem stared at her as she made her way towards them make up highlighting her obsidian eyes; he felt Dorian push his jaw up.

"See something you like lover boy?" Sata-Kas asked as she drew level pecking Krem on his cheek, he knew he now had her lipstick on his cheek.

Krem swallowed and noticed dimly the jealous glares of the men who had been watching Sata-Kas. "I would like you no matter your outfit, but you look more amazing than I could ever have dreamed of."

"Oh, aren't you sweet, glad the effort was worth it. Given takes me so long to doll up like this, I find the reactions fun though." Sata-Kas laughed.

"If you keep pulling on it I will freeze your hands to your sides." Vivienne scolded Sera as they arrived at the group.

"The collar is tight!" Sera whined, only to receive a glare from her soulmate.

Sera was dressed in a simple yet elegant men's suit. With Vivienne in a matching dress. "It took me far too long to get her in that outfit." Vivienne complained.

"So what are you plans now." Varric asked Vivienne who looked at him for a moment.

"I am going to help reform the circles, this time however we mages will be equal. Working with so many different mages has shown me that the circles were flawed, the fade hunters of the elves were a smart idea; after all who knows the danger of magic better than a mage, we can not lock ourselves away and let fear fester." Vivienne looked around at the shocked faces.

"She can learn?" Dorian breathed amazed.

"Well I am following Vivi for now, got nothing better to do and want to make sure the mages are treated right, magic is freaky but the mages are still people got to look out for the little people." Sera said, Varric smiled.

"Well I will be heading home with Hawke, they are planning to visit Kirkwall before the raiding season starts up again. I have a book to write afterall." Varric offered, Vivienne sighed.

"The heroes of Ferelden are raiders along with the champion of Kirkwall, it is so sad to think about." Vienne moaned.

###

As the party was beginning to wind down Cassandra and Asaara climb the stairs to their tower, Cassandra was mildly concerned that Simra had not been at the party; Solas had also been absent but she had not figured him for the party type. They entered their room to see ethereal green light reflecting on the ceiling, hurrying up the stairs the found Solas and Simra sitting on a pair of chairs studying a large magic circle on the floor.

{Simra what is going on?} Asaaranda asked, Simra looked at her and Cassandra took a step back the woman in front of her was not Simra, at least not the one she knew.

[I wish there was another way Asaaranda but there is not, the anchor's task is down and for your own safety it needs to be removed.] Simra explained, Asaaranda sighed.

"What is going on, who are you and what have you done with my daughter!" Cassandra demanded getting ready to leap for her sword hanging on the bed post.

{Enough Kadan that is Simra, she is no longer hiding her true self. Simra is almost to minds, she broke on that ship and what resulted is the Simra before you.} Asaaranda explained, Cassandra looked betrayed at Simra.

"Was it all a lie then? Were you just playing with me, with the others did you find it funny toying with my heart!?" Cassandra demanded, hating the slight joy she felt at the pain on Simra's face.

[It was not a lie I love you like a mother, I just can't stand this world it hurts too much to be alive. So I went back to a time that was happier and acting like that Simra is easier makes the pain easier to bear. It is so easy I can even forget the pain for a time, and you made it even easier to let this side of me sleep; the night terrors are me resisting the past and fighting to stay as the simpler mindset.] Simra explained, Cassandra relaxed.

"We will be talking about this." Cassandra promised and Simra smiled sadly.

[Of course, Josie warned me that I might want to tie you down first though since she punched me hard enough to break two of her fingers and break my nose; heal magic is very handy at those times.] Simra said and Cassandra saw hints of her daughter break through the stranger in front of her.

"As touching as this is I would prefer if we focus on the matter at hand, removing the mark and returning it to the orb." Solas interrupted, Cassandra glared at him.

"Why the hurry?" Cassandra demanded, Solas sighed. "My magic can no longer fight the mark and even with the orb the mark is killing her, in a few months the mark will begin draining her life away and in three and half years she will be dead."

{Remove it then.} Asaaranda said.

"Kadan! Are you really going to trust him, he may have promised to give up his plan but this still could be a trick!" Cassandra asked, Simra raised her hand.

[It is not a trick I have known for sometime that she would have a limited amount of time with it before it killed her; but until it became needed I kept this to myself. Now that the rifts are dealt with we need to remove it… even at the cost it demands.] Simra explained, Solas stepping in.

"We can not remove the mark from living flesh and it has already spread, with our combined magic with can pull it back to your hand then remove the hand and remove the mark from that." Cassandra's jaw dropped at the reveal.

{Do it.} Asaaranda said stepping into the circle holding out her hand, Cassandra simply sat down the bench determined to see it through.

Solas and Simra nodded, at once their magic leapt to the circle from the circle leapt tendrils of light that latched onto her hand pulling the mark's power into her hand. As soon as it crossed her wrist Simra's spectral blade flashed through the air severing the hand, Asaaranda began healing the wound at once while the elves finished transferring the power to the orb which Simra then took a hold of. Solas nodded and departed.

[There are still a few small rifts, but with the orb we can safely seal them, I will leave you two alone. I am sorry.] Simra apologized before departing.

{Kadan lets go to bed we will deal with everything in the morning.} Asaaranda asked, Cassandra helped her get ready for bed.

As they laid down Cassandra looked at the ceiling. "At least you can get a pirate hook or blade for you hand." Enjoying the rumble of her soulmate's laugh.

"Simra was suffering so much and I did not notice, some mother I am." Cassandra sighed, her anger gone replaced with sadness.

{Even the Valo-Kos don't know, I only know cause I was there to see it happen. The others think she got better. Josie is the only one who has really helped her, but she does love you.}

"I know, I just will take some time to get used to the idea that she has two personalities." Cassandra agreed, they drifted off in each other's arms.

The end… For now.


End file.
